.  / 


^  * 


\  . 


- 


BY  THE  SAME  AUTHOR. 


i.  MARIE  ANTOINETTE. 

Demy  8vo,  75.  6d. 

"An  excellent  account,  frequently  dramatic,  always  carefully  studied 
and  conscientious  of  the  whole  course  of  events  in  Paris,  and  the  sufferings 
of  the  Royal  family. " — Spectator. 

"  Copious,  impartial,  sympathetic.  It  leans  to  mercy's  side,  as  who 
should  not  ?  and  it  gives  a  familiar  and  intelligible  picture  of  the  Queen 
as  a  woman  in  her  daily  life,  in  her  feelings  and  in  her  frailties,  her  pleasures 
and  her  sorrows,  her  costumes  and  her  pranks ;  in  fact,  she  stands  out 
from  this  canvas  as  distinctly  almost  as  if  she  were  a  persona  acquaint- 
ance."— M.  A.  P. 

"  The  authoress  can  tell  a  story  in  a  popular  style,  and  her  work  has 
not  the  superficiality  which  too  often  characterises  works  of  this  type. 
Her  narrative  is  based  upon  the  best  authorities,  and  does  equal  justice  to 
the  strong  and  weak  sides  of  '  the  Austrian,'  as  poor  Marie  Antoinette  was 
called  by  her  many  enemies." — Manchester  Guardian. 

"  We  hope  to  see  it  as  a  prize  book  for  good  schools." — Speaker. 

"  The  book  is  written  in  plain  straightforward  style,  eminently  readable, 
and  contains  a  good  deal  of  well  balanced  criticism,  besides  showing  a  very 
wide  acquaintance  with  the  history  of  the  period." — Literary  World. 


UNIV.  OF  CALIF.  LIBRARY.  LOS  ANGELES 


"  The  present  work  is  an  endeavour  to  write  a  popular  life  of  Marie 
Antoinette  which  shall  collect  into  one  substantial  narrative,  nearly  all  that 
is  to  be  said  on  that  familiar  subject.  In  this  endeavour  we  may  say  at 
once  both  author  and  translator  have  to  a  large  extent  succeeded." — 
Guardian. 

2.  EUGENIE:  Empress]of  the  French, (Second  Edition). 
Demy  8vo,  6s. 

"  We  would  recommend  this  book  very  cordially  to  those  who  would 
know  the  story  of  the  strangely  romantic  career  of  the  beautiful  Spaniard, 
who  was  once  Empress  of  the  French." — Pall  Mall  Gazette. 

"  The  very  completeness  of  its  account  of  the  ex-Empress,  the  im- 
partial judgment  which  it  passes  on  her  character  and  actions,  the 
unshrinking  fidelity  to  truth  with  which  it  sets  forth  her  errors  and  her 
weaknesses — these  things  make  the  greater  impression  on  account  of  the 
genuine  admiration  expressed  for  her  high  qualities." — Spectator. 

"  A  well  written,  powerful,  and  sympathetic  summary  of  the  events  of  a 
bright  star  that  glittered  and  went  out." — Scotsman. 

"  A  remarkably  clear  and  concise  biography  of  the  ambitious  woman 
who  once  ruled  France,  who  is  now  a  sad  figure — bent,  pallid  and  sorrow- 
ful— an  Empress  without  a  throne.  As  a  whole  the  book  is  very  impartial 
in  judgment,  and  in  many  cases  distinguishes  judiciously  between  weak- 
nesses and  serious  faults." — Literary  World. 


3.  NAPOLEON'S  MOTHER. 

Demy  8vo,  75.  6d. 

"  Miss  Tschudi's  readable  and  interesting  book.  The  figure  of  Napoleon's 
mother  is  one  of  historical  dignity,  and  although  the  material  with  regard 
o  her  Js  a  little  slight,  her  life  was  worth  writing. " — Athenaum.  \ 


"  A  sympathetic  account  of  a  very  impressive  career.  The  title  of  the 
book  is  happily  chosen — Letitia  Bonaparte  devoted  herself  wholly  to  the 
welfare  of  her  children,  and  in  the  nature  of  things,  Napoleon  and  his 
brothers  and  sisters  figure  in  these  pages  almost  as  prominently  as  the 
mother.  The  translation  is  pleasantly  written  and  will  commend  itself  to 
many  English  readers." — Manchester  Guardian. 

"As  a  sketch  of  a  remarkable  woman,  Miss  Tschudi's  work  may  be 
welcomed,  for  it  will  help  the  world  at  large  to  do  tardy  justice  to  a 
character  of  exceptional  strength. " — Saturday  Review. 

"  The  translation  is  well  done.  The  book  is  very  readable,  and  though 
it  has  no  pretensions  to  be  an  important  piece  of  history,  it  is  at  least  an 
interesting  sketch  of  a  very  remarkable  Mother  of  Kings." — Guardian. 

"  She  failed  to  fill  the  contemporaneous  eye.  Now  perspective  has  put 
her  in  her  proper  place.  It  is  there  that  we  see  her  in  the  present  volume." 
— Pall  Mall  Gazette. 


4.  AUGUSTA:  Empress  of  Germany. 

Demy  8vo,  75.  6d. 

"  It  is  the  record  of  a  sad  and  disappointed  life  that  is  described  in  these 
pages.  We  see  a  cultured,  sensitive  Princess  thrown  among  uncongenial 
surroundings,  where  she  is  misunderstood,  slighted  and  unloved.  But 
throughout  there  is  visible  the  pathetic  figure  of  an  ailing  woman  and  a 
lonely  Queen  and  Empress,  with  her  husband  irrevocably  estranged  from 
her,  absorbed  in  his  passion  for  military  greatness,  and  dominated  by  his 
masterful  Chancellor.  Miss  Tschudi's  fascinating  memoir  seems  to  be 
stamped  with  the  impress  of  truth,  and  is  a  valuable  contribution  to  the 
history  of  our  times." — Daily  Telegraph. 

"  Clara  Tschudi's  book  will  repay  perisil,  not  only  for  her  study  of  the 
Jate  Dowager  Empress  Augusta,  but  also  for  the  side-lights  it  throws  upon 


other  people  who,  during  considerably  more  than  half  a  century,  were 
prominently  engaged  in  '  making  history  '  on  the  Continent." — fftUinghaxt 
Guardian. 

"  Miss  Tschudi  has  evinced  yet  again  the  exceptional  aptitudes  she 
possesses  for  this  sort  of  work. " — Pall  Mall  Gazette. 

"Among  the  most  successful  popular  biographers  of  the  day  is  Miss 
Tschudi,  who  has  written  several  lives  of  royal  women.  She  has  a  real 
gift  for  conveying  a  vivid  impression  of  the  person  about  whom  she  is 
writing.  She  gives  her  virtues  in  full,  but  she  also  does  not  ignore  her 
faults." — Literary  World. 

"  There  is  no  doubt  that  Clara  Tschudi's  biographies  of  Marie  Antoinette, 
the  Empress  Eugenie  and  Napoleon's  mother,  though  they  are  written  in 
perfect  simplicity  of  style  and  without  pretence  of  appearing  important, 
are  more  interesting  than,  and  as  reliable  as,  the  most  ponderous  and 
scholarly  work  on  these  prominent  historic  figures.  Miss  Tschudi's  latest 
addition  to  her  series  of  biographies,  is  a  volume  (in  a  first  rate  translation} 
on  the  subject  of  the  Empress  of  William  I.  of  Germany.  So  little  is 
known,  even  in  Germany,  of  the  vie  irtime  of  the  Empress  Augusta,  that 
the  volume  before  us  supplies  a  distinct  want.  The  story  is  told  with  a 
complete  knowledge  of  the  subject,  and  with  an  impartiality  which  is  not 
easy  for  a  biographer  to  maintain  when  dealing  with  a  character  arousing 
so  much  admiration,  and  hampered  by  faults,  so  much  the  result  of  adverse 
circumstances.  We  consider  Miss  Tschudi's  latest  work  one  of  her 
best." — Westminster  Gazette. 


LONDON  :  SWAN  SONNENSCHEIN  &  CO.,  LIM. 


ELISABETH,  EMPRESS  OF  AUSTRIA. 


ELIZABETH,  EMPRESS  OF  AUSTRIA 


AND 


QUEEN  OF  HUNGARY 


BY 

CLARA  TSCHUDI 


AUTHORISED  TRANSLATION   FROM  THE  NORWEGIAN 

BY 
E.    M.    COPE 


NEW   YORK 

E.    P.    BUTTON    &    CO 
1901 


TRANSLATORS  PREFACE 


THE  kind  reception  accorded  to  my  previous 
translations  of  Clara  Tschudi's  biographies  has 
encouraged  me  to  undertake  her  last  work  which 
was  published  in  Copenhagen  in  December,  1900. 

The  sketch  of  the  chequered  career  of  Elizabeth 
of  Austria- Hungary  cannot  fail  to  interest,  and  to 
the  many  who  know  but  little  beyond  the  details 
of  her  tragic  death,  the  accidents  of  heredity, 
environment  and  sorrow,  so  accurately  treated  by 
the  authoress,  must  prove  acceptable. 

It  is  but  "  the  foreground  of  human  life  we  can 
examine  with  any  exactness,"  and  even  a  pro- 
founder  study  of  the  Empress-Queen  than  this 
claims  to  be,  would  fail  to  give  more  than  an 
"  outline  "  of  events  with  which  she  was  connected. 

There  are  some  singular  points  of  similarity  in 
the  lives  of  this  trio  of  Empresses  of  the  nineteenth 
century,  for  Eugenie  of  France,  Augusta  of  Ger- 
many and  Elizabeth  of  Austria- Hungary  were  all 

213S2&7 


acquainted  with  the  horrors  of  war,  and  inspired 
by  noble  self-denial  to  aid  personally  in  tending 
the  sick  and  wounded,  as  well  as  to  organise 
substantial  relief  during  disastrous  outbreaks  of 
cholera  and  other  epidemics. 

Each  had  to  bear  the  poignant  anguish  of 
losing  an  only  son,  and  to  experience  in  countless 
ways  the  powerlessness  of  an  Imperial  crown  to 
confer  happiness  on  the  wearer. 

The  present  monograph,  however,  is  not  all 
tragedy,  and  many  amusing  episodes  are  related 
which  arose  out  of  the  incognito  of  the  Empress 
during  her  travels. 

The  occasional  German  and  Norwegian  quota- 
tions which  appear  in  the  original  work  have  been 
rendered,  somewhat  freely  I  must  allow,  into 
English,  for  the  benefit  of  such  of  my  readers  who 
may  not  be  conversant  with  these  languages. 

E.   M.   COPE. 


CONTENTS 


Page 

CHAPTER  I 

DIAMOND  WEDDING  IN  POSSENHOFEN  — DUKE  MAX  OF 
BAVARIA  AS  A  POPULAR  ZITHER-PLAYER— THE  DUCHESS 
LUDOVICA I 

CHAPTER  II 

BIRTH  AND  CHILDHOOD  OF  ELIZABETH  OF  BAVARIA       -  -         II 

CHAPTER  III 

BETROTHAL   OF  THE  EMPEROR   FRANCIS  JOSEPH   AND    THE 

PRINCESS  ELIZABETH  AT  ISCHL         -  -     .     -          -          -        l8 

CHAPTER  IV 
"THE  ROSE  OF  BAVARIA" — BRIDAL  PROGRESS  TO  THE  CITY 

ON  THE  DANUBE 29 

CHAPTER  V 

WEDDING  FESTIVITIES    -  -        37 

CHAPTER  VI 

EARLY  DIFFICULTIES  OF  THE  NEW  POSITION  44 

CHAPTER  VII 

TRAVELLING  IN  THE  PROVINCES— MATERNAL  CARES     -  -        55 

CHAPTER  VIII 

BIRTH  OF  THE  CROWN  PRINCE  RUDOLPH — WAR  OF  1859         -        66 


CONTENTS— continued 

i 

Page 

CHAPTER  IX 

CONJUGAL    DIFFERENCES — ELIZABETH'S    ILL-HEALTH — HER 

STAY  IN  MADEIRA 76 

CHAPTER  X 

IN    CORFU — RETURN    HOME — FLIGHT    FROM    VIENNA — THE 

EMPRESS  DURING  THE  WAR  OF  1 866  83 

CHAPTER  XI 

ELIZABETH  AND  POLITICS — CORONATION  IN  HUNGARY  -        91 

CHAPTER  XII 

THE    EMPRESS    AS    MOTHER  —  THE    ARCHDUCHESS     MARIE 

VALERIE  - 104 

CHAPTER  XIII 

THE  EMPRESS  AS  A  HORSEWOMAN 114 

CHAPTER  XIV 

THE  CASTLE  OF  GODOLLO— ELIZABETH  AS  QUEEN  OF  HUNGARY      I  2 1 

CHAPTER  XV 

THE  INTERNATIONAL  EXHIBITION  AT  VIENNA — ELIZABETH 
AMONG  OTHER  ROYAL  LADIES — ELIZABETH  AND  THE 
VIENNESE 129 

CHAPTER  XVI 

THE  EMPRESS  AND  BENEFICENCE— IMPERIAL  SILVER  WED- 
DING FESTIVITIES 138 

CHAPTER  XVII 

MARRIAGE  OF  THE  CROWN  PRINCE  RUDOLPH — THE  EMPRESS 

AND  HER  CASTLES  <-  -      145 

CHAPTER  XVIII 

VISIT  TO  BAVARIA— ELIZABETH  AND  KING  LOUIS  II.       -          -      155 


CONTENTS— continued 

Page 

CHAPTER  XIX 

THE  EMPRESS  ON  HER  TRAVELS 1 66 

CHAPTER  XX 

THE  EMPRESS  AND  LITERATURE 1 8? 

CHAPTER  XXI 

SICKNESS — DAILY  LIFE  OF  THE  EMPRESS — HER  MANNER 
TOWARDS  HER  HOUSEHOLD,  AND  THE  LADIES  OF  HER 
COURT  -'-.-.. 199 

CHAPTER  XXII 
ELIZABETH'S  DRESS  AND  BEAUTIFUL  HAIR    ....    208 

CHAPTER  XXIII 

FRIENDSHIPS — THE  CASTLE  AT  CORFU  -  -          -  -      212 

CHAPTER  XXIV 

DEATH  OF  THE  CROWN  PRINCE  RUDOLPH  —  DEEP  MELAN- 
CHOLY   221 

CHAPTER  XXV 

BETROTHAL  OF  THE  ARCHDUCHESS  MARIE  VALERIE— DEATH 
OF  THE  DUCHESS  LUDOVICA— RESIDENCE  IN  CORFU — 
LAST  COURT  FESTIVITIES  AND  LAST  VISIT  TO  HUNGARY  229 

CHAPTER  XXVI 

DEATH  OF  THE  EMPRESS 237 

CHAPTER  XXVII 
CONCLUSION 250 


"  You  have  excellent  natural  abilities,  and  a  noble  disposition. 
But  you  are  deficient  in  one  respect  :  You  cannot  sink  yourself  to 
the  level  of  your  associates,  nor  accommodate  yourself  to  circum- 
stances.    You  belong  to  another  period  than  ours." 
(The  Duchess  Ludovica  to  her  daughter,  the  Empress  Elizabeth.} 
"All  I  ask  of  humanity  is  that  it  should  not  interfere  with  me." 

(The  Empress  Elizabeth?) 


THE 

EMPRESS  ELIZABETH 

OF 

AUSTRIA. 


CHAPTER  I 

"You  have  excellent  natural  abilities  and  a  noble  disposition;  but  you 
are  deficient  in  one  respect :  you  cannot  sink  yourself  to  the  level  of  your 
associates,  nor  accommodate  yourself  to  circumstances;  you  belong  to 
another  period  than  ours. 

(The  Duchess  Lndovica  to  her  daughter,  the  Empress  Elizabeth.} 

"All  I  ask  of  humanity  is  that  it  should  not  interfere  with  me." 

( The  Empress  Elizabeth. ) 

DIAMOND    WEDDING     IN     POSSENHOFEN — DUKE    MAX     OF    BAVARIA     AS 
A   POPULAR  ZITHER-PLAYER — THE   DUCHESS  LUDOVICA 

ON  September  gth,  1888,  an  unusual  ceremony 
was  performed  in  the  princely  house  of  Wittels- 
bach,  when  Maximilian  Joseph,  the  head  of  the 
ducal  Vorpfalz-Zweibriicken-Birkenfeld  branch  of 
the  family,  and  his  wife,  Ludovica  (Louise) 
daughter  of  King  Maximilian  I.  of  Bavaria  and 
his  second  wife,  Caroline  of  Baden,  celebrated 
their  diamond  wedding,  both  bride  and  bridegroom 
having  been  about  twenty  years  of  age  at  the  time 
of  their  marriage, 


2  EMPRESS  ELIZABETH 

It  is  rare  to  meet  with  a  princely  couple  so 
closely  united  to  so  many  of  the  reigning  dynasties 
of  Europe. 

The  eldest  son  of  Maximilian  and  Ludovica, 
Ludwig  Wilhelm,  had  renounced  his  hereditary 
right  in  order  to  contract  a  marriage  unsuited  to 
his  rank,  with  the  actress  Henriette  Mendel,  who 
was  created  Countess  Wallersee.  But  their  eldest 
daughter,  Helene,  became  the  wife  of  the 
Hereditary  Duke  of  Thurn  and  Taxis,  and  her 
daughter  Louise,  by  her  union  with  Frederick  of 
Hohenzollern,  formed  a  fresh  link  between  the 
Wittelsbachs  and  the  royal  house  of  Prussia. 
Their  second  daughter  was  Elizabeth  of  Austria- 
Hungary,  whose  son  became  the  husband  of 
Stephanie,  daughter  of  the  King  of  the  Belgians. 

The  child  born  after  Elizabeth  was  Charles 
Theodore,  the  celebrated  oculist,  who  became  head 
of  the  ducal  house  of  Wittelsbach  on  the  death  of 
his  father ;  his  first  wife  was  his  cousin  Sophie, 
daughter  of  King  John  of  Saxony,  after  whose 
death  he  married  Marie  Josepha,  a  Princess  of 
Portugal. 

Two  other  daughters  of  the  aged  couple,  Marie 
and  Mathilde,  had  married  into  the  younger 
branch  of  the  house  of  Bourbon,  the  former  having 
become  the  wife  of  Francis  II.  of  Naples,  and  the 


DIAMOND  WEDDING  IN  POSSENHOFEN          j 

latter  that  of  bis  half  brother,  Count  Louis  de 
Trani.* 

The  youngest  daughter,  Sophie,  was  at  one 
time  engaged  to  her  cousin,  Louis  II.  of  Bavaria, 
but  she  married  the  grandson  of  Louis  Philippe 
of  France,  the  Due  d'  Alen9on,  while  the  youngest 
son,  Max  Emanuel,  became  the  husband  of  Amalia 
of  Saxe  Coburg  and  Gotha,  and  brother-in-law  to 
Prince  Ferdinand  of  Bulgaria. 

Eccentricity,  coupled  with  insanity,  has  always 
been  a  prominent  feature  in  the  house  of  Wittels- 
bach,  and  in  the  course  of  a  single  century,  between 
twenty  and  thirty  members  of  the  race  have  be- 
come victims  to  madness. 

But  in  spite  of  their  peculiarities  and  eccen- 
tricities, they  have  always  enjoyed  the  love  of 
their  subjects,  on  account  of  their  attractive  per- 
sonal qualities,  and  the  fact  that  they  sought  their 
own  honour  in  the  happiness  and  well-being  of  their 
people,  while  many  members  of  the  family  have 
gained  lasting  renown  by  their  striking  amiability, 
their  beauty,  or  their  deep  interest  in  the  arts  and 
sciences.  The  historical  annals  of  Bavaria  have 
little  to  note  about  conspiracies  or  attempts  on  the 
lives  of  reigning  princes,  but  they  are  full  of  in- 

*  An  old  sea  port  in  the  south  of  Italy  ;  one  of  the  points  of 
embarcation  of  the  Crusaders. 


4  EMPRESS  ELIZABETH 

cidents  of  sacrifice  of  goods  and  life  on  the  side  of 
the  people,  coupled  with  fidelity  and  devotion  that 
have  remained  firm  and  unshaken  during  the 
"  changes  and  chances  "  of  Time. 

Duke  Maximilian  Joseph  was  born  in  Bamberg, 
December  4th,  1808,  the  son  of  Duke  Pius 
Augustus  of  Bavaria,  whose  intellect  was  over- 
clouded, and  Amalia  Louise,  Princess  of  Aren- 
berg. 

Maximilian — "  the  good  Duke  Max,"  as  he  was 
usually  called  by  the  people — was  the  sole 
descendant  of  his  father  and  grandfather ;  his 
wife,  on  the  contrary,  was  the  youngest  of  a  large 
family,  and  of  her  five  sisters,  two  became  queens 
in  Saxony,  one  in  Prussia,  and  another  was  the 
mother  of  the  Emperor  Francis  Joseph  of  Austria- 
Hungary.  Louis  I.  of  Bavaria  was  her  half- 
brother,  and  of  her  two  half  sisters,  one  had  first 
married  the  King  of  Wiirtemberg,  and  later  on, 
the  Emperor  Francis  I.  of  Austria- Hungary,  while 
the  second,  by  her  marriage  with  Napoleon's  step- 
son, Eugene  Beauharnais,*  became  the  grand- 
mother of  Charles  XV.  and  Oscar  II.,  Kings  of 
Norway  and  Sweden. 

The  festivities  in  honour  of  the  aged  couple 
affected  in  a  more  or  less  degree  nearly  every 

*  One  of  his  daughters  married  Oscar  I.,  son  of  Bernadotte. 


DIAMOND  WEDDING  IN  POSSENHOFEN  5 

reigning  house  in  Europe,  not  one  of  whom 
omitted  to  send  congratulations  ;  and  though  the 
event  of  their  diamond  wedding  was  quietly 
observed  by  the  family  on  the  lake  of  Starnberg, 
the  people  of  Bavaria  gave  touching  proofs  of  their 
esteem  and  devotion. 

Maximilian  Joseph  was  one  of  the  most 
eccentric,  as  well  as  one  of  the  most  popular, 
members  of  the  house  of  Wittelsbach.  He  spent 
his  childhood  and  early  youth  in  Bamberg  and 
Munich,  under  the  supervision  of  his  grandfather, 
and  matriculated  in  the  University  of  the  latter 
city  at  the  age  of  eighteen,  when  he  threw  him- 
self heart  and  soul  into  the  study  of  history, 
natural  science,  and  social  economy.  On  attaining 
his  majority,  he  took  his  seat  as  a  member  of  the 
Council,  in  accordance  with  the  provisions  of  the 
Bavarian  Constitution.  But  he  had  no  taste  for 
statesmanship  and  was  no  orator  ;  neither  did  he 
care  to  strive  for  distinction  as  a  soldier,  although 
from  the  age  of  thirty  he  had  commanded  a 
cavalry  regiment.  His  innate  love  for  science, 
literature,  and  art,  caused  him  to  prefer  the  simple 
costume  of  a  civilian  to  the  uniform  of  an  officer. 

In  his  youth  the  Duke  had  been  greatly 
attracted  by  a  musician  named  Johann  Petz- 
macher,  the  son  of  an  innkeeper  in  Vienna,  born 


6  EMPRESS  ELIZABETH 

in  1803,  who,  when  he  was  about  eighteen, 
learned  to  play  the  simple  "mountain  zither," 
with  which  the  inhabitants  of  the  Bavarian 
Highlands  accompany  their  national  songs. 
He  became  so  entranced  by  the  charm  and 
sweetness  of  the  instrument,  that  he  resolved  to 
devote  all  his  energies  to  make  himself  an 
accomplished  performer.  His  renown  soon 
spread  far  and  wide,  and  he  was  summoned 
to  play  in  the  most  select  circles  at  Vienna, 
even  at  Court.  He  then  undertook  a  musical 
tour  through  Germany,  where  he  was  welcomed 
with  unbounded  enthusiasm,  and  it  was  in  1837 
that  Duke  Maximilian  first  heard  him  at  a 
concert  in  Bamberg,  and  immediately  resolved 
to  learn  the  zither  under  the  direction  of  the 
master.  Petzmacher  was  at  once  appointed 
director  of  chamber  music  at  the  little  Court, 
and  remained  with  his  art-loving  benefactor 
until  his  death. 

In  1838  the  Duke  entered  upon  his  remote 
travels  in  Asia  and  Africa,  accompanied  by 
Petzmacher,  who  fascinated  countless,  tribes  by 
his  zither  playing,  and  while  his  friend  sat  by 
the  pyramids  of  Egypt,  or  encamped  on  the 
burning  sands  of  the  desert,  these  homeborn 
melodies  transported  them  in  thought  to  their 


DUKE  MAX  AS  A   ZITHER  PLAYER  ^ 

dear  ones  in  Europe,  and  made  them  forget 
the  dangers  and  difficulties  of  their  travels. 

The  Duke  himself  composed  several  pieces, 
which  were  published  and  played  after  his 
return.  Under  the  pseudonym  of  "  Phantasus," 
he  also  wrote  a  collection  of  poems  and  tales 
which  shew  no  ordinary  talent,  though  his 
"  Wanderings  in  the  East,"  in  which  he  describes 
his  travels  in  lands  unfamiliar  at  that  date, 
are  of  far  greater  literary  value,  and  are  still 
consulted. 

On  his  return  to  Bavaria,  he  had  a  circus 
built  behind  the  castle  in  the  Ludwigstrasse 
in  Munich,  which  excited  the  most  intense 
curiosity  and  surprise,  especially  when  the  Duke 
himself  appeared  as  director,  and  ladies  and 
gentlemen  of  the  nobility  were  among  the 
performers. 

But  it  was  only  in  the  winter  months  that 
he  resided  in  Munich,  for  he  spent  the  whole 
summer  and  autumn  with  his  family  in  the 
Castle  of  Possenhofen,  picturesquely  situated 
close  to  the  Lake  of  Starnberg.  This  lovely 
spot,  with  its  circle  of  lofty  Alps,  is  as  it  were 
created  to  cause  every  poetical  chord  to  vibrate, 
which  has  perhaps  induced  so  many  different 
members  of  the  aesthetic  princely  house  of 


8  EMPRESS  ELIZABETH 

Bavaria    to    build    their    summer    villas    in    the 
vicinity  of  the  lake. 

Max  Joseph  was  an  ardent  sportsman,  and 
spent  whole  days  in  the  woods  and  hills  round 
Possenhofen,  even  in  winter,  when  he  frequently 
left  the  city  for  the  study  and  enjoyment  of 
Nature,  which  was  an  absolute  necessity  of  his  life. 
On  these  occasions  he  wore  the  simple  dress  of  a 
peasant,  short  grey  jacket  with  braces  visible  over 
the  white  shirt  front,  a  feather  in  his  hat,  knee 
breeches,  long  stockings  and  thick-soled  shoes. 
He  was  generally  on  foot,  unless  he  made  use  of 
a  mail  coach,  the  usual  conveyance  of  the  time, 
when  the  passengers  rarely  surmised  that  the 
genial  sportsman,  ready  for  a  chat  with  each  one, 
was  a  Duke  and  brother-in-law  to  their  King. 
He  was  overwhelmed  with  petitions,  few 
approached  the  comparatively  poor,  but  warm- 
hearted prince,  in  vain,  and  this  daily  beneficence 
was  one  main  cause  of  his  great  popularity  in 
Munich,  though  the  country  folk  loved  and 
admired  him  most  as  a  good  zither  player,  who 
lived  among  them  as  one  of  themselves. 

With  his  instrument  under  his  arm,  he  would 
enter  the  house  of  a  peasant  and  play  dance 
music  for  the  young  people,  who  were  never 
tired  of  stepping  it  to  his  merry  tunes. 


THE  DUCHESS  LU DO  VIC  A  9 

Innumerable  stories  are  told  of  the  Duke,  who 
sometimes  allowed  himself  to  be  hired  as  a 
musician  by  the  peasants  on  their  fete  days, 
and  of  their  intense  enthusiasm  when  he  came 
forward  as  an  improvisatore,  or  surpassed  the  best 
peasant  singer  in  the  so-called  "  Schnaderhiipfel," 
a  popular  song  in  dialogue. 

His  wife  was  very  unlike  him,  without  a  trace 
of  his  impulsive,  artistic  temperament,  and 
consequently  perhaps  without  the  universal, 
open-hearted  appreciation  which  her  husband 
enjoyed  each  day  among  the  people.  And 
then  she  clung  to  the  prerogatives  of  her 
position  and  of  those  of  her  family,  before  her 
marriage  with  Maximilian  Joseph. 

On  account  of  her  more  formal  manner,  and 
her  much  slighter  intercourse  with  the  people, 
she  never  enjoyed  the  unstinted  love  bestowed 
upon  her  husband,  though  her  numerous  solid 
qualities  earned  for  her  a  high  degree  of  respect 
and  good-will  from  the  many  who  came  in  contact 
with  her  during  her  sixty  years'  residence  at 
Possenhofen.  She  had  naturally  good  abilities, 
and  had  received  an  excellent  education. 
Rectitude  and  truthfulness  were  her  main 
characteristics,  and  throughout  her  life  she 
never  swerved  from  the  path  which  her  calm 


io  EMPRESS  ELIZABETH 

clear  judgment,  after  mature  consideration,  had 
decided  upon  as  the  right  one.  She  shared 
the  preference  of  her  husband  for  the  retirement 
of  the  country,  rather  than  the  turmoil  of  life  in 
a  town,  and  by  the  side  of  her  popular,  but 
erratic  consort,  with  whom  she  lived  most 
happily,  her  mind  never  lost  its  even  balance, 
and  she  exercised  a  judicious  influence  over  her 
children,  who  loved  and  respected  her. 

Her  eyes  shone  with  goodness  and  quickness, 
a  pleasant  smile  animated  her  face,  and  there 
was  a  dignity  in  her  carriage  which  had  its  root 
in  the  natural  nobility  of  her  character.  Those 
who  knew  her  had  the  instinctive  feeling  that 
she  was  created  to  give  the  support  to  Bothers, 
which  she  herself  did  not  need,  on  account  of 
she  unusual  strength  of  mind  with  which  she 
was  naturally  endowed. 

She  was  by  no  means  wanting  in  ambition  for 
her  children,  but  the  bitter  trials  she  had  to  en- 
dure on  their  account,  gradually  taught  her  to  set 
a  lower  value  on  outward  brilliancy.  For  herself 
she  never  wished  to  court  attention,  but  only  to 
live  her  life  in  the  peace  and  tranquillity  of  retire- 
ment. 


CHAPTER  II 

BIRTH   AND   CHILDHOOD   OF   ELIZABETH   OF   BAVARIA 

IT  was  Christmas  Eve  1837,  while  all  the  bells  in 
Munich  were  ringing  in  the  holy  season,  that 
Maximilian  Joseph  in  his  rambles  through  the 
very  poorest  parts  of  the  city,  met  a  woman  so 
bowed  beneath  a  heavy  load  that  she  had  diffi- 
culty in  dragging  herself  along ;  but  still  she 
greeted  the  passer-by  according  to  Christmas 
usage  in  Bavaria. 

"  Praise  be  to  Jesus  Christ." 

"To  all  eternity,  Amen!"  replied  the  Duke, 
when  he  added  : 

"  Why  are  you  carrying  such  a  load  this  blessed 
Christmas  Eve  ? " 

"  I  will  tell  your  Grace,"  answered  the  woman. 
"As  my  poor  children  will  have  no  Christmas 
gifts,  I  have  been  gathering  sticks  for  them  in  the 
wood,  that  they  may  at  least  have  a  good  warm 
room." 

"  Quite  right,"  said  the  Duke.  "  I  have  already 
had  my  gift  in  the  shape  of  a  bonny  little  daughter 


12  EMPRESS  ELIZABETH 

just  born,  who  is  to  be  called  Lise,  and  I  am  so 
rejoiced  that  I  should  like  you  to  have  a  share  in 
my  happy  Christmas." 

Then  he  wrote  the  name  and  address  of  the 
woman  in  his  pocket-book,  and  that  same  evening 
two  of  his  servants  knocked  at  her  door,  carrying 
big  heavy  baskets  filled  -with  substantial  food  and 
stood  them  on  the  table.  Then,  as  the  happy 
woman  gradually  emptied  them,  she  came  upon 
two  envelopes  containing  a  welcome  gift  of  money. 

The  child  who  this  day  saw  the  light  was 
Elizabeth,  the  future  Empress  of  Austria  and 
Queen  of  Hungary. 

There  is  a  superstition  in  some  countries  that  it 
is  unlucky  to  be  born  on  Christmas  Eve,  *  but  the 
bright  and  careless  childhood  of  the  little  princess 
was  certainly  no  training  for  the  sorrows  of  her 
after  life. 

She  spent  most  of  her  early  days  in  the  fascin- 
ating neighbourhood  of  Possenhofen  which  her 
father  had  purchased  a  few  years  before  her  birth, 
and  the  extensive  parks  and  woods  around  formed 
the  first  playground  for  this  "outdoor  child," 

*It  has  been  generally  stated  that  the  Empress  Elizabeth  was 
born  at  Possenhofen.  But  the  Court  Calendar  ("Almanach  de 
Gotha")  maintains  that  her  birth  occurred  at  Munich,  which  is 
more  probable,  as  the  ducal  family  nearly  always  spent  the  winter 
p  t°wn. 


THE  DUCHESS  LU DO  VIC  A  13 

whose  physical  development  was  so  graceful,  and 
whose  receptive  mind  so  keenly  responded  to  the 
power  of  God  and  nature. 

The  Duchess  Ludovica  was  mainly  occupied 
with  the  education  of  her  eldest  daughter  Helene, 
some  four  years  older  than  Elizabeth,  who  was 
her  mother's  darling,  and  the  most  like  her  in 
character  and  appearance.  Her  talents,  clear  in- 
tellect, and  ease  in  learning  gave  great  hopes  for 
the  future.  In  the  mean  time,  eclipsed  by  her 
sister's  apparently  superior  gifts,  without  the  least 
interest  in  book  learning,  and  understanding 
nothing  of  court  life,  Elizabeth,  or  "  Sissi,"  as  she 
was  called  in  the  family  circle,  grew  up  for  a  time 
almost  unobserved.  She  loved  Helene  with  the 
admiration  of  a  younger  sister  and  the  innocent 
respect  for  one  more  gifted  than  herself.  The 
love  of  the  little  girl  was  accepted,  but  Elizabeth 
always  felt  herself  in  closer  companionship  with  her 
father  and  brother  than  with  her  mother  and  sisters. 

The  Duke  was  devoted  to  the  child  who  had 
inherited  his  love  of  nature  and  enjoyed  sharing 
in  his  mountain  rambles,  as  well  as  visiting  the  huts 
of  the  peasants,  when  she  learnt  to  know  men  and 
life  through  the  medium  of  his  views,  a  proof  that 
she  was  never  trained  for  the  exalted  position 
which  she  afterwards  filled. 


14  EMPRESS  ELIZABETH 

When  she  was  five  years  old  she  was  entrusted 
to  the  care  of  a  governess,  but  "Sissi"  in  an 
amiable  and  loving  manner,  soon  learnt  to  twist 
her  teacher  round  her  little  finger,  and  to  ignore 
her  books  whenever  it  suited  her.  As  Empress 
she  declared  that  she  was  the  most  ignorant 
princess  in  Europe,  for  she  knew  nothing  but  the 
first  principles  of  some  half  dozen  languages,  in 
addition  to  the  knowledge  she  had  acquired  while 
sitting  on  her  father's  knee. 

But  backward  as  she  might  be  in  book  learning 
there  were  other  points  which  certainly  suffered 
no  neglect.  The  Duke  insisted  on  bodily  exercise 
for  all  his  children,  and  the  best  masters  of  the 
period  were  summoned  to  Possenhofen  to  teach 
her  and  her  brothers  and  sisters  both  dancing 
and  deportment.  Elizabeth  was  an  excellent 
walker  to  the  end  of  her  life,  and  was  noted  for 
her  light  elastic  step.  As  Empress,  she  observed 
to  one  of  her  readers  : 

"  I  am  never  tired  of  walking,  and  I  thank  my 
father  for  it.  He  was  an  ardent  sportsman,  and 
expected  my  sisters  and  myself  to  skip  and  spring 
abou;  like  chamois." 

Then  she  learnt  to  swim  and  ride,  and  it  was 
her  choice  delight  to  feel  the  wind  rushing  through 
her  hair  as  she  rode  round  the  lake  of  Starnberg 


THE  D  UCHESS  L  UDO  VIC  A  1 5 

on  her  little  pony.  And  when  winter  compelled 
her  to  remain  in  Munich,  she  was  constantly  to  be 
found  in  her  father's  large  riding-school,  where 
she  rode  the  most  unmanageable,  restive  horses 
that  were  there. 

One  day  when  she  was  playing  at  circus,  her 
favourite  game,  she  was  thrown  by  an  untrained 
thorough-bred,  and  her  governess  screamed  with 
terror,  but  Elizabeth  quickly  got  up,  neither  hurt 
nor  frightened,  and  smilingly  begged  to  be  allowed 
to  remount,  which  the  terrified  governess  emphati- 
cally refused  to  permit. 

The  real  festive  period  of  her  childhood  was 
each  spring,  when  the  family  again  removed  to 
Possenhofen,  where  she  could  rejoice  in  almost 
unbounded  liberty.  She  was  passionately  fond 
of  flowers,  and  the  story  is  still  told  among  the 
Alpine  dwellers  of  Bavaria  how  "  Lise  from 
Possenhofen  "  used  to  clamber  about  the  rugged 
mountain  paths  and  appear  again  after  a  while 
with  her  arms  full  of  "edelweiss." 

Her  father  had  taught  her  the  zither  and  she 
frequently  accompanied  him  on  his  longer  excur- 
sions in  the  Alps,  where  they  would  rest  and  eat 
their  food  in  some  chalet,  and  afterwards  not 
infrequently  play  dance-music  together  on  the 
instruments  they  had  brought  with  them,  or  bor- 


1 6  EMPRESS  ELIZABETH 

rowed  from  the  peasants.  It  happened  once  that 
they  played  in  a  remote  district  where  nobody 
knew  either  the  strange  sportsman  or  the  child, 
and  the  peasants  gave  the  charming  little  girl 
a  few  silver  coins  as  her  reward.  Elizabeth  ac- 
cepted them  with  glee,  and  one  day  observed  to 
some  acquaintances  to  whom  she  was  shewing 
them,  as  Empress. 

"This  is  the  only  money  I  have  earned  in  my  life." 
As  she  had  very  little  pocket-money  when 
a  child,  she  often  used  to  knit  or  sew  in  the 
evenings  that  she  might  have  some  useful  gift  to 
offer  to  her  friends  on  the  hills,  by  whom  little 
Lise  was  simply  adored.  And  when  the  autumn 
storms  were  beginning,  or  she  was  overtaken  by 
a  shower,  she  would  go  quite  alone  into  any  hut 
to  seek  shelter  from  the  weather,  seat  herself  by 
the  hearth,  and  chat  at  her  ease  with  old  or  young. 
Her  parents  saw  no  harm  in  this,  and  it  was  the 
greatest  of  pleasures  to  the  Duke  to  share  in  the 
life  of  the  people.  When  the  Duchess  was  told 
that  her  daughter  was  scouring  the  country  with 
her  brothers  and  playing  the  zither  in  the  huts  of 
the  peasants  while  they  danced,  she  smiled  indul- 
gently and  said :  "  She  is  a  child ;  I  will  take 
her  in  hand  myself  someday." 

During  this  free  outdoor4  life  in  Possenhofen, 


THE  DUCHESS  LU DO  VIC  A  17 

the  woods  and  mountains  were  as  a  second  home 
to  the  girl  and  the  large  handsome  rooms  of  the 
city  palace  seemed  narrow  and  oppressive  in 
comparison  with  the  wide  world  of  God. 

Her  singular  childhood  must  certainly  have 
exercised  an  important  influence  on  her  later 
development,  and  perhaps  affords  the  key  to 
many  incidents  in  her  life  as  Empress  of  Austria. 

Her  innate  longing  for  independence,  and  her 
remarkable  sympathy  with  all  that  is  great,  pure 
and  unsullied  by  men  in  nature,  met  with  en- 
couragement beyond  all  proportion  in  her  unusual 
position  at  home,  and  her  unrestrained  wanderings 
in  woods  and  hills.  It  is  undeniable  that  her 
unfettered  childhood  was  the  last  thing  calculated 
to  fit  her  for  the  sphere  to  which  she  was  so  early 
to  be  called. 


BETROTHAL  OF  THE  EMPEROR  FRANCIS  JOSEPH   TO   THE  PRINCESS 
ELIZABETH  AT  ISCHL 

ONE  of  the  first  journeys  that  the  Princess  took 
with  her  parents,  brothers,  and  sisters  was  to  the 
picturesquely  situated  Ischl,  where  the  parents  of 
the  Emperor  Francis  Joseph  were  accustomed  to 
spend  the  summer  months,  and  where  the  two 
sisters,  the  Archduchess  Sophia  and  the  Duchess 
Ludovica,  had  arranged  to  meet  in  1853. 

The  five  years  which  had  elapsed  since  the 
accession  of  the  Emperor  to  the  throne  *  had  been 
filled  with  ceaseless  toil,  trouble  and  anxiety  ;  and 
it  was  still  but  a  few  months  since  the  dagger 
wound  inflicted  by  the  assassin  Libenyi  had 
threatened  his  life.  In  spite  of  disturbances  in 
the  land,  there  were  many  courtiers  who  had 
formed  their  own  little  plans  and  coupled  their 
sovereign's  name,  now  with  one  and  now  with 
another  of  the  European  Princesses,  solely  for  the 
furtherance  of  different  political  schemes.  But 
*  On  the  abdication  of  his  uncle,  Ferdinand, 


BETROTHAL  OF  THE  EMPEROR  19 

at  that  moment  not  a  sound  was  heard,  and  Francis 
Joseph's  mother,  equally  strong  in  mind  and  will, 
who  completely  ruled  her  son,  had  resolved  that 
a  Princess  of  her  own  race  should  share  his  dual 
crown. 

The  Wittelsbachs  and  the  Habsburg  Lorraines 
both  belong  to  the  oldest  ruling  houses  in  Europe, 
and  both  are  staunch  members  of  the  Roman 
Catholic  Church,  while  for  six  hundred  years 
intermarriages  have  been  common  between 
them. 

The  fourth  wife  of  Francis  I.  *  and  the  Arch- 
duchess Sophia  were  both  Princesses  of  Bavaria, 
what  could  therefore  be  more  natural  than  for  the 
young  Emperor  to  seek  his  bride  in  the  same 
house  ? 

The  Emperor's  mother  had  heard  that  her 
sister's  daughter,  Helene,  was  amiable,  as  well  as 
gifted,  she  was  on  the  best  of  terms  with  her  sister 
Ludovica,  and  during  their  close  correspondence, 
her  plans  had  been  unfolded  to  the  Duchess  who 
agreed  with  her  to  consider  the  marriage  of 
Francis  Joseph  with  the  Princess  Helene  a  settled 
thing. 

It  now  became  necessary  that  the  young  people 

*  Grandfather  of  Francis  Joseph,  styled  Emperor  of  Austria  in 
1804. 


20  EMPRESS  ELIZABETH 

should  make  each  other's  acquaintance — and  take 
to  each  other.  This  second  point  was  a  cause  of 
disquietude  to  the  Emperor,  who,  though  a  model 
of  filial  obedience,  was  a  passionate  admirer  of  the 
fair  sex. 

It  is  quite  certain  that  mutual  attachment  united 
Francis  Joseph  and  Elizabeth,  in  spite  of  many 
different  accounts  that  are  current  respecting  the 
manner  of  their  engagement. 

The  following  is  in  all  probability  the  most 
truthful  statement : 

The  Emperor  was  to  arrive  at  Ischl,  August 
1 6th,  to  meet  his  parents  and  the  family  of 
Maximilian  Joseph,  and  as  the  carriage  was 
rolling  along  the  dusty  highway,  his  adjutant  ex- 
claimed in  a  tone  of  admiration. 

"Look  there,  S'ire  !  " 

Francis  Joseph  took  up  his  glass  and  caught 
just  a  glimpse  of  a  wonderfully  beautiful 
child,  amusing  herself  with  a  flock  of  goats  in  an 
adjacent  meadow.  A  second  later,  the  carriage 
turned  a  corner  and  drove  into  the  town.  About 
an  hour  afterwards,  as  he  was  sitting  with  his 
mother,  a  young  girl  rushed  unannounced  into  the 
room  with  a  bunch  of  wild  roses  in  her  hand,  and 
wearing  a  short  white  frock,  while  a  perfect  wealth 
of  chestnut  brown  hair  fell  in  waves  all  down  her 


2i 


youthful  figure.      It  was  she  whose  beauty  he  had 
admired  from  the  carriage. 

She  met  him  for  the  first  time,  though  she 
recognised  him  immediately  from  his  likeness,  and 
without  the  least  hesitation  or  bashfulness,  she 
went  up  to  him  and  said  cheerily  : 

"Griiss  Gott  Vetter  !  " 

"  Who  are  you  ?  "  asked  the  Emperor,  who  was 
half  afraid  that  the  lovely  vision  would  vanish. 

"  I  am  Elizabeth,"  and  the  warm  glance  of  her 
expressive  blue  eyes  captivated  his  heart  as  she 
spoke. 

A  few  hours  later,  the  Princess  Helene  was  in- 
troduced to  him  ;  by  no  means  a  pretty  girl,  but 
intelligent  and  aristocratic  looking,  so  that  if 
Francis  Joseph  had  not  already  seen  Elizabeth, 
her  sister  would  probably  have  become  Empress 
of  Austria. 

The  Emperor  was  invited  to  dine  with  his 
Uncle  and  Aunt  the  following  day,  and  as  he  was 
nearing  the  ducal  suite  of  rooms  in  the  hotel,  he 
heard  two  female  voices  in  altercation  behind  a 
half  open  door. 

"  I   entreat  you,  Princess,"  said  one,   "  Do  not 
go  out !     You  know  that  you  have  been  forbidden 
to  do  so." 
"  And  for  that  very  reason  I  want  to  go,"  replied 


22  EMPRESS  ELIZABETH 

the  second  voice,  which  he  recognised  ;  it  was 
young  and  very  soft,  and  the  next  moment  Eliza- 
beth was  in  front  of  him,  blushing  and  smiling. 

"  Why  may  you  not  go  out  ? "  asked  the 
Emperor. 

"  Because  I  am  the  child  of  the  family  and 
must  remain  so  until  my  eldest  sister  is  married," 
she  replied.  "  Thanks  to  you  I  am  to  be  a 
prisoner  this  afternoon,  and  I  have  had  to  have 
my  dinner  all  by  myself." 

"  Princess,  what  are  you  thinking  of?  "  shrieked 
the  governess,  who  now  appeared  on  the  scene, 
crimson  with  annoyance.  "  Pardon  me,  your 
Majesty,"  she  continued,  turning  to  the  Emperor, 
"but  my  instructions  are  imperative." 

Without  paying  the  least  attention  to  her 
words,  Francis  Joseph  offered  his  arm  to  the 
young  girl,  and  said  : 

"  Let  us  go  together." 

"  No,  I  dare  not,"  exclaimed  the  terrified 
princess.  "  Papa  would  be  furious  !  " 

"  Come  back  !  "  screamed  the  governess,  who 
utilised  this  momentary  hesitation  on  the  part  of 
her  pupil  to  drag  her  into  a  side-room,  and  bolt 
the  door,  after  making  a  profound  curtsey  before 
the  Emperor  who  said  to  Duke  Max  when  dinner 
was  over  : 


BETROTHAL  OF  THE  EMPEROR  23 

"  I  have  a  favour  to  ask  of  my  amiable  host. 
Is  it  not  the  custom  in  Bavaria  for  the  children  to 
come  down  to  dessert  ?  I  should  like  to  improve 
my  acquaintance  with  your  second  daughter, 
whom  I  saw  just  for  a  moment  at  my  mother's  this 
morning." 

Every  eye  turned  towards  him,  and  perfect 
silence  reigned  for  a  second,  till  the  Duke  ob- 
served : 

"Your  Majesty's  wishes  shall  be  attended  to." 

The  Duchess  had  only  time  to  realise  the  utter 
hopelessness  of  her  ambitious  schemes  for  Helene, 
before  Elizabeth  entered  the  room  blushing,  and 
evidently  somewhat  alarmed. 

Francis  Joseph  had  on  the  whole  no  very  high 
opinion  of  women,  and  young  as  he  was,  he  had 
bought  his  experience.  But  after  he  had  looked 
upon  this  pure,  innocent  child,  his  views  became 
suddenly  changed,  and  through  the  political  clouds 
that  had  obscured  the  first  years  of  his  reign,  love 
now  penetrated  like  lightning  into  the  depths  of 
his  heart. 

That  same  evening  the  Archduchess  gave  a 
ball  at  which  both  of  her  nieces  were  present,  and 
the  Court,  well  aware  that  important  events  were 
in  the  air,  contemplated  the  Bavarian  sisters  with 
lively  curiosity.  The  Emperor's  mother  singled 


24  EMPRESS  ELI Z ABET fi 

out  Princess  Helena,  while  her  son  divided  his 
favours  between  the  two  cousins  ;  but  when  he 
presented  a  lovely  bouquet  of  roses  to  Elizabeth 
in  one  of  the  figures  of  the  cotillon,  excitement 
went  up  to  fever  heat.  It  was  evident  that  the 
mother  wanted  Helene  for  a  daughter-in-law  and 
that  the  Emperor  preferred  Elizabeth ;  but  it 
still  seemed  doubtful  how  far  the  mother  would 
submit  to  her  son,  or  whether  he  might  wholly 
yield  his  wishes  to  hers. 

But  his  choice  was  already  made,  and  at  the 
close  of  the  ball,  he  announced  that  Elizabeth  and 
none  other  should  become  his  wife. 

The  surprise  of  the  Archduchess  was  boundless, 
but  in  spite  of  the  failure  of  her  original  plans,  she 
was  determined  that  no  hindrance  on  her  part 
should  interfere  with  his  attachment.  She  had 
wished  for  a  niece  as  a  daughter-in-law,  because 
she  hoped  to  be  able  to  govern  her  as  easily  as 
she  did  the  young  Emperor,  and  if  it  was  to  be 
an  undeveloped  child,  under  sixteen,  of  her  own 
race,  who  was  to  share  her  son's  throne,  instead 
of  her  intelligent  sister  of  twenty,  she  only  thought 
that  it  would  be  undoubtedly  easier  to  bring  her 
under  her  own  control. 

At  9  o'clock  the  following  morning,  the  Imperial 
carriage  was  to  be  seen  standing  at  the  door  of 


BETROTHAL  OF  THE  EMPEROR  2< 

the  hotel  where  Max  Joseph  was  residing,  and 
Francis  Joseph  hastening  up  the  stairs  to  inquire 
of  the  lady's  maid  : 

"Is  Sissi  awake ?" 

"Yes,  your  Majesty  !     She  is  dressing." 

"That  is  well;  I  will  go  and  see  her 
parents."  He  begged  for  a  private  interview 
with  the  Duke  and  Duchess,  and  there  and 
then  made  a  formal  proposal  for  the  hand  of  the 
Princess  Elizabeth. 

It  was  an  insult  to  Helene,  which  neither  Max 
nor  Ludovica  could  easily  accept,  but  the  suitor 
was  determined,  and  declared  moreover  that  if  he 
could  not  have  the  girl  he  loved,  he  would  not 
marry. 

The  parents  were  forced  to  consent,  and  in 
accordance  with  the  wishes  of  the  Emperor, 
Elizabeth  was  to  be  told  that  very  day  of  his 
proposal,  though  at  the  same  time  she  was  not  to 
be  forced  to  reply  at  once. 

Her  mother  sent  for  the  girl,  a  mere  child  in 
appearance,  and  an  infant  in  heart  and  soul.  She 
clasped  her  hands  in  utter  amazement,  and 
exclaimed  : 

"  It  is  impossible  !     I  am  only  a  child  !  " 

The  deep  feelings  of  her  heart  were  still 
slumbering,  though  she  was  responsive  to 


26  EMPRESS  ELIZABETH 

affection,  and  this  rapid  wooing  suited  her  resolute 
natural  character.  She  was  attracted  by  the 
appearance  and  manners  of  her  cousin,  and 
without  a  second's  further  thought,  joyfully  con- 
sented to  be  his  wife. 

The  day  happened  to  be  his  twenty-third  birth- 
day, August  1 8th.  On  their  arrival  at  church  the 
following  morning,  the  Emperor's  mother  stood 
aside  and  motioned  to  her  young  niece  to  precede 
her  on  their  entrance  into  the  house  of  God,  and 
on  the  conclusion  of  Mass,  Francis  Joseph  took 
his  fiancee  by  the  hand,  led  her  up  to  the  altar, 
and  said  to  the  priest  : 

"  Reverend  Father,  this  is  my  future  consort, 
give  us  your  blessing  !  " 

The  "Wiener  Zeitung"  of  August  24th  had 
the  following  announcement  : 

"His  Imperial,  Royal  and  Apostolic  Majesty, 
our  most  gracious  sovereign  and  Emperor, 
Francis  Joseph  I.,  has  during  his  stay  at  Ischl, 
after  receiving  the  full  consent  of  his  Majesty, 
King  Maximilian  II.,  as  well  as  that  of  the  ducal 
parents  of  the  bride,  become  engaged  to  the 
Princess  Elizabeth  Amalie  Euge"nie,  Duchess  of 
Bavaria,  daughter  of  their  Highnesses  Duke 
Maximilian  Joseph,  and  the  Duchess  Ludovica, 
n£e  Royal  Princess  of  Bavaria.  May  the  blessing 


BETROTHAL  OF  THE  EMPEROR  27 

of  the  Almighty  rest  upon  this  auspicious  event, 
so  fraught  with  joy  and  gladness  for  our  august 
Imperial  House  and  land." 

The  enthusiasm  of  the  people  was  boundless, 
and  the  tinge  of  romance  that  hovered  over  the 
engagement,  appealed  to  the  Viennese,  who  were 
ready  to  rave  about  the  child  that  their  young 
Emperor  had  selected  for  his  wife.  Her  likeness 
was  to  be  seen  in  every  hut  and  home  of  the 
Habsburg  Empire,  and  not  a  voice  tired  of  re- 
counting the  charms  of  her  beauty,  and  the 
details  of  the  simple  family  life  in  the  home  of  her 
childhood. 

The  engaged  couple  and  their  parents  spent  a 
month  together  at  Ischl,  and  a  lady  of  the  Court 
wrote  to  her  son  at  the  time.* 

"  Happiness  shone  on  the  faces  of  the 
youthful  pair,  the  weather  was  bewitching,  and 
life  seemed  to  lie  before  them  as  one  long- 
summer's  day." 

Crowds  from  the  immediate  neighbourhood  of 
Ischl  daily  poured  in  to  catch  a  glimpse  of  their 
Emperor's  bride,  and  then  return  enraptured  with 
her  loveliness.  Poems  and  songs  were  written  in 
her  praise,  and  the  whole  Empire  resounded  with 
the  couplet : 

*  Arneth's  Memoirs. 


"  Rose  aus  Bayerland  Bavarian  Rose  transplanted, 

Lieblich  und  traut,  All  Austria  bends  to  greet 

Nun  griisst  dich  ganz  Oest'reich  Thee  as  a  lofty  royal  bride, 
Als  hehre  Braut !  "  A  flower  most  grateful  sweet. 

Elizabeth  was  a  perfect  child  in  the  face  of  all 
this  homage,  and  kept  herself  out  of  sight,  as  far 
as  it  was  possible;  indeed,  it  frequently  happened, 
that  with  or  without  her  consent,  she  was  forced 
to  occupy  a  conspicuous  position,  in  order  to 
satisfy  the  craving  of  the  Austrians  to  look  at 
their  future  Empress. 


CHAPTER    IV 

"THE    ROSE   OF   BAVARIA" —   BRIDAL    PROGRESS    TO   THE   CITY  ON    THE 

DANUBE 

APRIL  2oth,  1854,  Elizabeth  began  her  bridal 
journey  to  Vienna,  accompanied  by  her  parents 
and  her  elder  brother  and  sister.  Every  street  of 
her  native  town  was  thronged  with  citizens  and 
peasants  from  the  neighbourhood,  who  with  their 
wives  and  daughters  had  come  to  wish  her  God- 
speed. 

In  spite  of  the  painful  rush  of  feeling  that 
almost  overwhelmed  her,  she  rose  again  and 
again  in  the  carriage  to  return  the  greetings  of 
the  crowd,  and  bid  them  a  tearful  good-bye. 

The  steamer  "  Die  Stadt  Regensburg "  con- 
veyed the  family  by  the  Danube  from  Straubing 
to  Linz,  and  all  work  had  been  suspended  to 
mark  the  happy  event,  and  allow  thousands  upon 
thousands  to  turn  their  thoughts  solely  to  the 
arrival  of  the  expected  Princess.  At  Passau,  a 
deputation  came  on  board  who  welcomed  her  on  the 
frontier  of  the  Empire,  in  the  following  words  : 


30  EMPRESS  ELIZABETH 

"  Friendly  as  our  plains,  stable  as  our  hills, 
such  are  the  feelings  of  the  Austrian  nation  for 
their  Emperor's  bride,  and  the  welcome  we  offer 
to  your  Highness  springs  in  all  sincerity  from  the 
very  depths  of  our  hearts." 

The  party  landed  at  Linz  in  order  to  continue 
their  voyage  in  a  smaller  steamer,  and  were 
received  by  Francis  Joseph  who  had  come  on 
purpose  to  meet  them,  but  who  hastened  to 
return  to  Vienna,  that  he  might  receive  his  bride 
there  too. 

A  magnificent  triumphal  arch  had  been  erected, 
the  whole  of  Linz  looked  like  one  immense 
flower-garden,  and  bonfires  were  blazing  on  the 
surrounding  heights  ;  while  plays  at  the  theatres, 
torch-light  processions  and  serenades  in  front  of 
the  house  where  the  bride  of  sixteen  was  to  pass 
the  night,  concluded  the  day's  ovation. 

The  following  morning,  April  22nd,  she  and 
her  companions,  escorted  on  board  by  the  city 
authorities  and  cheered  at  every  step,  entered  on 
their  further  progress  down  the  Danube,  from 
Linz  to  Nussdorf,  by  the  steamer  "  Franz 
Joseph,"  which  was  decorated  with  roses  from 
stem  to  stern.  The  ducal  cabins  were  hung  with 
purple  velvet,  and  the  deck  was  a  perfect  garden 
of  flowers.  It  was  a 'lovely  spring  morning,  and 


THE  ROSE  OF  BAVARIA  31 

the  banks  on  either  side  the  river  were  crowded 
with  spectators,  flags  floated  from  church  towers 
and  house  roofs,  and  singers  grouped  at  every 
available  interval  sang  :— - 

"  Gott  erhalte  Franz  den  Kaiser,"  or 

"  Ein  Konigskind  in  die  Feme  zieht, 

Gefuhrt  von  innerem  Drang, 
Dem  hangt  eine  Thran'  am  Augenlied, 
Dem  ist  so  bang,  so  bang  ! 

O  Konigskind,  erbange  nicht, 

Wie  fremd  auch  Flur  und  Strand  ! 
Wo  dich  die  Lieb'  wie  hier  umflicht, 

Da  ist  dein  Heimathland  ! " 

(A  royal  child  goes  forth 

In  foreign  lands  to  dwell ; 
Tears  dim  her  eyes  and  haunt  her  heart, 

Tears  that  she  cannot  quell. 

O  fear  not  royal  child, 

Though  strange  may  be  the  strand  ; 

Where  love  doth  clasp  thee  closely  round 
Lies  thy  true  Fatherland.) 

On  board  a  graceful  figure  flitted  from  one 
side  to  the  other,  unweariedly  and  unceasingly 
acknowledging  the  eager  cheering  of  the  multi- 
tude. In  the  meantime,  extensive  preparations 
had  been  made  for  a  suitable  reception  at 
Nussdorf,  the  landing  place  for  Vienna,  whence 
the  inhabitants  had  been  pouring  in  since  early 
dawn,  and  were  patiently  waiting  or  struggling 


32  EMPRESS  ELIZABETH 

to  retain  the  places  they  had  conquered  with  so 
much  trouble  and  difficulty. 

Near  to  the  bridge  a  large  tent  supported  by 
pillars  had  been  erected,  surmounted  by  a  gilded 
dome  and  towers  that  shone  afar  off,  and  this 
was  filled  towards  twelve  o'clock  by  the  highest 
nobles  of  the  Empire,  officers,  clergy  and  the 
representatives  of  every  civil  and  official  adminis- 
tration. A  raised  platform  to  the  right  was 
occupied  by  foreign  ambassadors  and  their  ladies, 
one  to  the  left  by  the  members  of  the  Municipal 
Council  in  Vienna,  and  those  towns  in  other 
provinces  under  the  sceptre  of  the  Habsburgs. 

The  space  in  front  of  which  the  steamer  would 
actually  lay  to,  was  carpeted,  and  on  either  side 
tiers  of  seats  had  been  erected  for  the  Imperial 
Court.  The  weather  round  Vienna  had  been 
dull  since  early  morning,  but  by  mid  day  a  brisk 
wind  had  driven  every  cloud  away,  and  the  sky 
was  bright  with  the  purest  blue  when  the  signals 
announced  in  the  afternoon  that  the  steamer  was 
in  sight.  At  half-past  five  it  neared  the  quay 
amid  the  thunder  of  cannon,  the  pealing  of  bells, 
and  the  loud  strains  of  music.  Francis  Joseph, 
who  had  just  appeared  on  the  scene,  hastened 
on  board  to  embrace  his  bride,  followed  immedi- 
ately by  his  parents  the  Archduke  Francis 


33 

Charles  and  the  Archduchess  Sophie.  The 
long-awaited  moment  had  arrived,  and  Elizabeth 
was  at  last  in  the  capital,  leaning  on  the  arm  of 
the  Emperor,  while  thousands  of  voices  simul- 
taneously shouted  : 

"  Long  live  the  Emperor's  bride  !  " 

The  vivas  and  hurrahs  of  the  Viennese  were 
so  overwhelming  in  their  heartiness  that  Elizabeth 
stood  for  some  minutes  as  though  rooted  to  the 
spot  by  the  side  of  her  fiance,  while  tears  of  joy 
welled  up  into  her  eyes  and  rolled  down  her 
cheeks.  Then  she  looked  steadily  at  the  dense 
crowds  who  were  welcoming  her  in  true  southern 
enthusiasm,  bowed  repeatedly  on  all  sides,  and 
waved  her  handkerchief  with  many  a  pleasant 
smile  towards  the  excited  spectators. 

Years  have  passed  since  that  day,  misfortune 
and  sorrow  have  as  it  were  inundated  Austria 
and  the  house  of  Habsburg,  but  there  are  eye- 
witnesses still  living,  who  can  recall  this  moment 
and  tell  of  the  ravishing  picture  presented  by  the 
the  young  Princess,  as  she  stood  in  her  perfect 
ideal  loveliness. 

The  drive  from  Nussdorf  to  the  old  Imperial 
Castle  of  Schonbruun,  which  was  reached  at  half 
past  six,  was  one  triumphant  procession  and  here 

the    Emperor    once   more    bade    his    bride    be 

3 


34  EMPRESS  ELIZABETH 

welcome,  as  he  conducted  her  up  the  grand  stair- 
case, which  was  perfectly  decorated  with-  exotic 
shrubs  and  flowers. 

In  the  meantime  the  Castle-grounds  had  become 
one  dense  mass  of  people  who  shouted  their 
welcome,  in  the  warm,  hearty  manner  of  the 
Austrians,  each  time  that  Elizabeth  shewed 
herself  on  the  balcony  by  the  side  of  the  Emperor. 
Their  enthusiasm  seemed  endless  and  boundless, 
and  again  and  again  she  had  to  gratify  their 
longing  to  see  her. 

Her  ceremonial  entry  into  the  city  took  place 
the  following  day,  and  in  accordance  with 
ancient  usage,  the  drive  from  Schonbruun  to  the 
Theresianische  Fitter- A kademie  *  was  in  all 
stillness  and  simplicity,  which  made  the  magni- 
ficent display  along  the  bride's  path  from  the 
Akademie  to  the  Hofburg  all  the  more  striking. 

While  the  procession  was  forming,  Elizabeth 
and  her  mother  rested  in  the  inner  apartments  of 
the  Theresiamim. 

Every  house  in  Vienna  and  the  suburbs  had 
been  decorated  by  loyal  hands,  and  the  streets 
through  which  the  bride  was  to  drive,  were  like 
so  many  gardens.  The  Elizabeth  Bridge,  which 
unites  the  capital  with  Wieden,  one  of  the 

*  An  Institution  for  the  training  of  officers. 


THE  ROSE  OF  BA  VAR1A  3$ 

municipal  districts  of  the  city,  was  opened  this 
same  day,  and  received  the  name  of  the  future 
Empress.*  The  burgomaster  and  councillors 
were  all  assembled  waiting  to  bid  her  welcome, 
and  round  statues  of  six  celebrated  men  which 
adorned  the  bridge,  16,000  shrubs  and  giant 
bouquets  from  the  conservatories  of  the  Prince 
Lichtenstein  and  Schwarzenberg  had  been  most 
effectively  grouped,  while  their  scent  penetrated 
into  every  quarter  of  the  city. 

The  distance  to  the  Karntnerthor  was  bordered 
by  9000  citizens  standing  three  deep,  while 
innumerable  groups  of  young  girls  strewed 
roses  by  the  way.  The  moment  the  procession 
began  to  move,  the  cannon  thundered  forth  again, 
and  every  church  of  the  suburbs  vibrated  with 
"  the  swinging  and  the  ringing  of  the  bells." 

The  firing  ceased  as  Elizabeth's  carriage 
passed  the  ramparts,  while  the  bells  in  the 
heart  of  the  city  foretold  that  she  had  actually 
entered  the  precincts  of  the  ancient  capital. 

Her  gilt  coach  was  drawn  by  eight  milk  white 
horses,  decorated  with  high  white  nodding  plumes  ; 
the  reins  and  harness  were  gilt,  and  the  coachman, 
outriders,  and  footmen,  wore  white  wigs. 

*  It   was   destroyed  in  1898,  a  few  months   before  Elizabeth's 
death. 


36  EMPRESS  ELIZABETH 

The  bride  and  her  mother  were  the  occupants 
of  the  coach,  the  young  Princess  wearing  a  pale 
pink  satin  gown  embroidered  in  silver,  and  a 
white  mantle  covered  with  garlands  of  roses. 
On  her  magnificent  hair  sparkled  a  coronet 
of  diamonds,  intertwined  with  a  wreath  of  pink 
and  white  roses,  and  never  before  had  she  so 
completely  merited  her  name  of  "  The  Rose  of 
Bavaria." 


CHAPTER  V 

WEDDING   FESTIVITIES 

EARLY  on  the  morning  of  April  24th,  1854, 
a  special  service  with  Te  Deum  was  held  in 
every  church  in  Vienna,  while  the  bridal  pair 
was  present  at  high  mass  in  the  Court  chapel. 

From  three  o'clock  in  the  afternoon,  the  crowd 
was  so  dense  round  the  H  of  burg  and  the 
Augustiner  Kirche,  that  the  streets  had  to  be 
closed  in  order  to  form  space  for  the  carriages 
from  the  Castle. 

There  were  guests  from  every  corner  of  the 
Empire,  as  well  as  from  most  of  the  countries 
of  Europe,  and  the  list  of  the  strangers  who 
had  arrived  in  Vienna  during  the  preceding 
days,  amounted  to  nearly  7000,  which  at  that 
period  was  considered  a  most  remarkable  number, 
including  deputies  from  the  East — Alexandria, 
Smyrna,  and  Saloniki — who  had  come  to  share 
in  the  festivities. 

The    celebrated    old    Augustiner    Kirche,    in 


38  EMPRESS  ELIZABETH 

which  the  ceremony  was  to  take  place,  was 
magnificently  decorated,  and  over  the  high 
altar  a  lofty  canopy  had  been  raised  of  white 
velvet  and  gold,  under  which  stood  the  prie- 
Dieu  of  the  bridal  pair,  likewise  of  white  velvet. 
A  second  canopy  covered  the  velvet  brocade 
seats  set  apart  for  the  other  princely  personages. 

The  pillars  of  the  church  were  hung  with 
damask  and  costly  gobelin  tapestry,  and  the 
floor  was  covered  with  carpeting,  while  hundreds 
of  larger  and  smaller  coronas  and  candelabra, 
with  thousands  of  wax  tapers,  shed  a  sea  of 
light  on  the  whole.  The  passage  leading  from 
the  inner  apartments  of  the  Hofburg  were 
decorated  and  illuminated  in  a  similar  manner. 
The  ceremony  was  fixed  for  seven  o'clock  in 
the  evening,  and  by  six  o'clock  all  the  invited 
guests  had  taken  their  seats.  The  varied 
uniforms  of  the  officers,  the  brilliant  picturesque 
costumes  of  the  Hungarian  and  Polish  nobility, 
the  sparkling  jewels  of  the  ladies,  the  gold- 
embroidered  coats  of  the  ambassadors  and  high 
court  officials,  the  red  capes  of  the  cardinals, 
the  fantastic  appearance  of  several  of  the  Oriental 
deputies — all  united  to  form  a  picture  of  magical 
effect. 

Before    the   hour    appointed,    the    ladies    and 


WEDDING  FESTIVITIES  39 

gentlemen  of  the  Court,  in  full  gala  dress,  had 
assembled  at  the  Hofburg  to  be  in  readiness 
to  take  their  places  in  the  bridal  procession. 
The  ceremony  may  be  said  to  have  begun 
when  the  Prince-Archbishop  Rauscher,  formerly 
tutor  to  the  Emperor,  and  over  seventy  arch- 
bishops and  bishops  in  their  gold-embroidered 
vestments  had  assembled  in  the  sacristy,  and 
the  Master  of  the  Ceremonies  had  announced 
to  his  Majesty  that  all  was  ready. 

The  procession  passed  through  the  rooms  and 
corridors  in  the  following  order  :  Heralds,  pages, 
chamberlains,  privy  councillors,  the  highest  court 
functionaries,  the  Archdukes,  accompanied  by 
their  Stewards  of  the  Household,  and  finally  the 
Emperor  himself.  The  Archdukes  and  courtiers 
all  wore  the  chains  of  their  respective  orders,  and 
the  Field  Marshal  uniform  of  the  bridegroom  was 
adorned  with  the  collective  emblems  of  the 
Imperial  State  of  Austria. 

Immediately  after  the  Emperor  came  his 
mother  leading  the  bride  by  the  left  hand,  her 
own  mother,  the  Duchess  Ludovica,  walked  on 
her  left,  and  the  procession  was  closed  by  the 
ladies  of  the  Court  accompanied  by  the  Steward 
of  the  Household. 

TThe   bride  (exactly  sixteen  and  four    months) 


40  EMPRESS  ELIZABETH 

shone  in  the  full  beauty  of  youth  and  happiness. 
Her  wedding  gown  was  of  rich  white  silk  with  a 
garniture  of  heavy  gold  and  silver  embroidery, 
and  her  mantle,  likewise  embroidered  in  gold, 
formed  the  long  train.  Her  veil  of  Brussels  lace 
was  held  by  a  diamond  clasp,  while  her  wreath  of 
fresh  myrtle  and  orange  blossoms  was  secured 
by  a  magnificent  diamond  coronet  which  her 
mother-in-law  had  worn  on  her  wedding  day, 
and  had  presented  to  Elizabeth  as  a  bridal  gift. 
A  diamond  necklace  encircled  her  throat,  and 
clasps  richly  set  with  brilliants  fastened  her 
mantle.  She  wore  the  Bavarian  order  of 
Theresa,  as  well  as  the  Austrian  Star  of  the 
Cross  and  carried  a  bouquet  of  white  roses. 

The  bridal  pair  was  met  at  the  door  of  the 
church  by  the  Prince-Archbishop,  who  sprinkled 
them  with  holy  water,  and  the  pages,  who  had 
been  bearing  the  train  of  the  Princess,  now 
placed  it  in  the  hands  of  her  ladies  in  waiting. 
The  Emperor  and  his  bride  advanced  to  their 
prie-Dieu,  while  the  remaining  members  of  the 
royal  family  took  their  places,  and  after  a  few 
moments  spent  in  private  prayer,  Elizabeth  and 
Francis  Joseph  proceeded  to  the  high  altar, 
where  they  responded  to  the  usual  questions, 
exchanged  rings  and  clasped  each  other's  hands, 


WEDDING  FESTIVITIES  41 

As  soon  as  the  Archbishop  has  concluded  the 
ritual,  the  first  salvo  of  artillery  was  heard  re- 
echoing from  the  Joseph-Platz,  to  be  followed  in 
a  second  by  the  thunder  of  guns  from  every  fort 
to  announce  the  accomplished  fact  that  Austria 
had  now  an  Empress  and  Hungary  a  Queen. 
Cheers  from  outside  and  the  loud  reverberation 
of  the  guns  continued  all  through  the  address, 
when  the  Archbishop  said  to  the  young  couple  : 

"If  man  and  wife  are  united  by  the  bonds  of 
love  and  confidence,  happiness  must  be  theirs. 
You,  exalted  Princess,  who  are  now  to  occupy 
your  place  on  the  throne  of  Austria,  will  find  in 
your  husband  a  friend  who  has  joined  himself  to 
you  by  indissoluble  ties  ;  he  will  feel  your  joys 
and  sorrows  as  his  own,  and  you  may  open  your 
heart  to  him,  relying  in  all  faith  on  his  stead- 
fast devotion  amid  all  the  events  of  this  change- 
able earthly  life ;  he  will  be  at  your  side  with 
never-failing  sympathy,  he  will  prove  your 
protector  and  your  strength,  your  joy  and  your 
hope,  your  pride  and  your  honour ! 

His  Majesty  the  Emperor  has  been  entrusted 
with  a  serious  task.  From  the  Lake  of  Constance 
to  the  distant  boundary  of  Transylvania,  from  the 
Italian  river  Po  to  the  banks  of  the  Vistula, 
thirty-eight  million  men  look  to  him  to  protect 


42  EMPRESS  ELIZABETH 

and  help  them  by  his  power  and  wisdom.      But  the 
burden  which  rests  upon  his  shoulders  is  heavy,  as 
well  as  honourable,  and  has  cost  him  many  an  act 
of  self-denial.       His   Majesty  has  already  given 
his    youth    as    a    sacrifice    for   his    people, — you, 
Princess,  are  called  upon  to  make  up  to  him  for 
the  joys  of  youth  which  he  has  had  to  renounce  ! 
St.  Augustine  says  :     If  a  wife  loves  her  husband 
because  he  is  rich,  her  thoughts  are  unworthy,  for 
then  she  does  not  love'- him,  but  his  money.     If 
she  really  loves  him,   it  is  for  himself,  however 
poor  he  may  be.       This  is  the  devotion  you  will 
have  for  your  husband,   and   while    he   is   over- 
whelmed with  the  cares  of  state,  you  will  be  to  him 
as  a  peaceful  island  in  the  midst  of  stormy  billows 
where    roses    and    violets    exhale    their  perfume. 
May  all  that  is  pure,  lovely  and  honest  meet  with 
protection  and  furtherance  from  your  Majesty,  and 
may   we   have  a  life's   example  in  our   Empress 
Elizabeth !       By  the  side  of  Francis  Joseph,  the 
hero  and  safeguard  of  Austria,  his  Imperial  Consort 
will  hold  the  first  place  among  women,  not  alone 
by  virtue  of  the  crown  that  rests  upon  her  brow, 
but  still  more  by  the  influence  of  her  goodness, 
which  will  shed  its  gentle  light  from  the  steps  of 
the  throne  down  to  the  lowest  rank  of  her  people." 
On    the   day   of   his   marriage,    the    Emperor 


WEDDING  FESTIVITIES  43 

pardoned  nearly  every  case  of  high  treason,  as 
well  as  offences  against  the  public  peace,  and  at 
the  same  time  commanded  that  the  legal  pro- 
ceedings which  had  been  set  on  foot  concerning 
similar  misdemeanours  should  be  suspended. 

The  satisfaction  caused  by  the  marriage  of 
their  Monarch  was  proved  by  the  vast  number  of 
philanthropic  plans  that  were  organised  in  every 
corner  of  the  Empire  which  were  all  named  after 
the  Imperial  couple.  The  gifts  of  the  citizens  of 
Vienna  formed  a  fund  from  which  500  gulden  were 
given  to  forty  needy  couples  who  were  married  in 
different  churches  of  the  city  in  the  same  hour  as 
the  Emperor.  A  widespread  beneficence  was 
exercised  in  totally  different  ways  :  poor  children 
were  clothed,  sick  people  were  nursed,  necessitous 
families  were  assisted,  and  manufacturers  arranged 
entertainments  for  their  work-people. 

Francis  Joseph  himself  gave  200,000  gulden 
for  the  relief  of  the  indigent,  while  .the  Empress 
resolved  to  devote  to  charitable  purposes  the 
60,000  gulden  which  had  been  presented  to  her 
as  a  wedding  gift. 

She  did  not  think  only  of  the  Viennese  on  this 
occasion,  but  expressed  the  wish  that  every 
province  of  the  Empire  should  derive  benefit 
from  her  offering. 


CHAPTER  VI 

EARLY    DIFFICULTIES   OF   THE    NEW     POSITION 

ON  the  occasion  of  her  marriage  it  was  said  with 
truth  that  Elizabeth  was  the  youngest  and  also 
the  most  lovely  Empress  that  had  ever  grasped 
the  sceptre  of  the  Habsburgs.  She  was  tall  and 
slight,  with  delicately  formed  hands  and  feet, 
and  her  childlike  features  were  regular  and 
refined.  A  sweet  smile  was  frequently  on  her 
lips  in  her  happier  days,  her  eyes  were  of  a 
deep  blue,  her  complexion  fair  and  rosy,  and  a 
wonderful  effect  of  beauty  was  produced  by  her 
abundant  hair,  which  when  down  fell  round  her 
like  a  thick  long  cloak.  Sometimes  she  let  it 
hang  over  her  shoulders  divided  into  eight  heavy 
plaits  ;  but  she  often  wore  it  coiled  high  up  on 
her  head  like  a  diadem.  This  wealth  of  hair 
was  in  itself  sufficient  to  make  her  carry  herself 
erect  and  produce  a  naturally  regal  bearing. 

Utterly  without  experience  and   knowledge  of 
the  world  as  she  was,  and  filled  with  the  confiding 


EARLY  DIFFICULTIES  45 

warm-heartedness  of  early  youth,  she  thought 
life  would  be  one  long  day  of  enjoyment,  that 
faithful  devotion  would  always  encircle  her,  that 
loyal  hearts  would  beat  in  unison  with  hers,  and 
that  in  no  common  measure  she  would  become 
the  good  genius  of  her  people  at  large,  as  well 
as  of  her  immediate  surroundings. 

But  sharp  and  bitter  disappointment  followed 
hard  on  the  last  outburst  of  joy  and  gladness. 
The  middle  classes  had  begun  by  being  perfectly 
satisfied  with  their  Empress,  but  this  was  far 
from  being  the  case  with  those  of  higher 
rank.  The  Austrian  aristocracy  is  the  most 
exclusive  in  Europe,  and  in  their  circle  it  was 
considered  that  the  Princess  of  a  side  branch  of 
the  Bavarian  royal  house  was  far  too  young,  and 
above  all  not  sufficiently  distinguished  to  be  their 
Empress.  She  became  the  object  of  reserve  where 
she  had  looked  for  open  hearts,  and  found  herself 
entrenched  behind  a  barrier  of  coolness,  ill-will 
and  intrigue.  She  who  had  thought  to  be  the 
centre  of  homage  and  interest,  felt  herself  hurt 
and  disappointed  as  she  experienced  how  jealously 
she  was  excluded  from  the  influence  and  honour 
that  were  her  prerogative. 

It  was  unfortunate  that  she  had  so  early  been 
called  upon  to  occupy  a  position  which  required 


46  EMPRESS  ELIZABETH 

an  exceptional  knowledge  of  mankind,  tact,  and 
adaptability,  of  all  of  which  she  had  learnt  nothing. 
Hers  was  a  true-hearted  simple  nature,  and  she 
was  now  just  a  poor  bird  that  had  left  its  parents' 
nest  before  it  could  fly. 

All  who  had  known  her  in  Bavaria  were 
devoted  to  her,  and  in  her  own  home  there  was 
a  contagious  joyousness  about  her  that  reminded 
one  of  the  woods  and  fields  she  loved  so  dearly, 
and  her  happy  roguish  presence  always  brought 
a  breath  of  health.  The  very  pose  of  her  head 
with  its  profusion  of  lovely  hair  showed  con- 
fidence, while  her  dark  blue  eyes  looked  at  her 
fellow-creatures  with  an  open  expression,  as  free 
from  coquetry  as  embarrassment. 

She  was  doubly  a  Wittelsbach  by  birth,  and 
possessed  their  distinctive  traits  in  a  remarkable 
manner  :  she  was  proud  and  independent,  truthful 
and  courageous.  In  themselves  frankness  and 
veracity  are  inestimable  virtues,  but  they  proved 
so  many  pitfalls  for  her  who  could  not  adapt  them 
to  the  requirements  of  court-life,  and  the  spring- 
like freshness  of  her  nature  was  totally  unsuited 
to  Schonbruun  and  the  Hofburg. 

I  have  already  noticed  that  her  education  was 
still  very  defective  when  she  became  Empress, 
in  fact  it  had  hardly  begun,  for  work  and  reflec- 


KARLY  DIFFICULTIES  4? 

tion  had  found  no  niche  in  her  daily  life.  The 
Viennese  court  was  quick  to  perceive  this,  and 
therefore  thought  she  could  be  amused  with  vain 
toys  and  led  by  flattery  to  do  what  others  chose. 

But  their  mistake  soon  became  apparent.  She 
was  certainly  young,  but  in  addition  to  their 
peculiarities,  she  had  also  inherited  a  large  share 
of  the  rich,  many-sided  gifts  of  the  Wittelsbachs. 
Her  mind  was  quick  to  grasp  anything  that 
interested  her,  to  choose  or  reject  with  rapid 
decision,  and  her  strong  personality  revolted 
against  allowing  her  will  to  be  moulded  and 
fashioned  by  mere  court  routine. 

Life  in  the  Hofburg  with  each  day  precisely 
like  its  fellows,  was  wearisome  to  her  eager  mind, 
and  she  made  it  evident  from  the  first  that  she 
abhorred  pomp  and  ceremony  ;  while  little  as  she 
resembled  Marie  Antoinette  in  other  respects,  her 
dislike  to  etiquette  was  quite  as  pronounced  as 
that  of  the  unfortunate  queen. 

The  courtiers  of  Vienna,  who  had  lived  under 
the  regime  of  etiquette  from  the  hour  of  their 
birth,  considered  it  natural  and  indispensable  ;  it 
formed  the  framework  of  their  outer  lives  and 
almost  the  guiding  thread  of  their  inner  senti- 
ments. But  to  the  open  air  bird  from  the 
Bavarian  Alps,  these  Austrian  court  rules  seemed 


48 

petty  and  ridiculous,  she  could  not  breathe  in  such 
a  sultry  atmosphere,  her  wings  were  clipped. 

It  was  a  difficult  matter  to  fight  against  old 
customs  amid  new  surroundings,  and  a  storm 
gathered  immediately  when  the  Empress  refused 
to  be  present  at  the  daily  official  luncheon  served 
with  various  hot  dishes,  etc.,  and  called  for  bread 
and  sausage,  with  a  glass  of  Munich  beer. 

The  domestics  were  incensed  against  her 
because  she  wore  her  boots  and  shoes  a  month, 
instead  of  taking  a  new  pair  each  day,  they  con- 
sidered it  their  prescriptive  right  to  share  these 
things  among  themselves,  and  gave  no  thought 
to  the  strict  economy  to  which  Elizabeth  had 
been  accustomed. 

When  presiding  at  one  of  her  early  court  re- 
ceptions, she  removed  her  gloves  in  the  face  of  all 
etiquette  and  usage,  when  one  of  the  elder  ladies 
observed  to  her  in  alarm  that  she  was  offending 
against  their  customs. 

"Why  should  this  not  be  allowed?"  asked  the 
Empress. 

"  Because  it  is  a  departure  from  the  rule,"  was 
the  reply. 

"In  that  case,  from  to-day,  we  will  that  the 
departure  become  the  rule,"  said  Elizabeth. 

young  man  could  be  more  deeply  in  love 


EARL  Y  DIFFICUL TIES  49 

than  Francis  Joseph  was  with  the  wife  whom  he 
had  discovered  without  the  help  of  either  relations 
or  envoys. 

"  I  am  as  much  in  love  as  a  lieutenant,  and  as 
happy  as  a  god,"  he  wrote  to  a  friend,  on  the  con- 
clusion of  his  marriage. 

And  it  needed  all  his  devotion  to  reconcile  this 
child  who  had  hitherto  followed  her  own  bent, 
with  the  fetters  inevitable  to  her  position  as 
Empress  of  Austria  and  Queen  of  Hungary. 
Conflicts  were  frequent  between  the  old  ladies  of 
the  Court  and  the  young  Empress,  and  it  often 
happened  that  his  Majesty  had  to  interfere  and 
restore  peace.  He  permitted  her  to  relax  some 
of  the  stringent  rules  that  dated  from  ancient  times, 
but  he  dared  not  allow  her  to  introduce  new 
customs,  and  her  craving  for  more  freedom  was 
often  a  severe  tax  on  the  patience  of  the  young 
husband. 

The  Empress  really  loved  him,  but  still  not  with 
the  same  absolute  affection  that  he  felt  for  her, 
for  in  spite  of  her  hasty  temper  which  was  especi- 
ally evident  in  after  life,  there  was  an  innate  tinge 
of  coolness  in  her  nature  which  contrasted  with 
his  passionate  feelings  towards  her. 

Her    mother-in-law    had    hitherto    been    the 

absolute  ruler  of  the  court  and  had  exercised  her 

ft 


50  EMPRESS  ELIZABETH 

power  with  considerable  discretion,  for  during  the 
early  turbulent  years  of  her  son's  reign,  it  was 
she,  the  Archduchess  Sophie,  who  had  proved 
herself  a  valuable  support. 

She  was  a  woman  of  no  ordinary  intelligence, 
but  at  the  same  time  she  had  managed  to  exercise 
a  baneful  influence  over  the  impressionable 
Emperor,  and  as  long  as  there  seemed  the  faintest 
chance  that  she  could  regulate  his  public,  as  well 
as  his  private  life,  she  had  no  intention  of  fore- 
going one  tittle  of  her  power.  She  had  ap- 
propriated the  first  place  by  her  son's  side,  and 
never  for  one  moment  did  she  dream  of  retiring 
in  favour  of  her  niece  of  seventeen. 

It  would  be  difficult  to  find  two  women  less 
capable  of  understanding  each  other  than  this 
mother-in-law  and  daughter-in-law,  and  yet  they 
were  of  the  same  race.  The  Archduchess  was 
filled  with  a  craving  for  power  and  a  desire  to 
rule,  neither  of  which  ever  attracted  Elizabeth  in 
the  least.  She  was  moreover  a  woman  of  the 
world,  of  which  the  Empress  as  yet  knew  nothing. 
Sophie  ruled  the  Emperor,  but  the  priests 
directed  her.  Elizabeth  worshipped  God  in 
nature,  ignored  most  of  the  festivals  of  the 
Church,  and  hated  priestcraft.  The  elder  woman 
clung  to  all  ceremonies  in  which  she  could  hold 


EA  RL  Y  D1FFIC  UL  TIES  5 1 

the  first  place,  Elizabeth  withdrew  as  far  as 
possible  from  everything  of  the  kind,  and  her 
mother-in-law  made  the  fatal  mistake  of  believing 
that  this  child,  who  had  so  unexpectedly  been 
raised  to  an  Imperial  throne,  could  be  ruled  and 
dictated  to,  if  only  she  were  kept  amused.  But 
Elizabeth  was  absolutely  devoid  of  vanity,  she 
had  never  longed  to  be  Empress  or  Queen  for 
the  sake  of  a  brilliant  position,  and  did  not  even 
care  to  live  in  a  town.  She  would  probably  have 
preferred  it,  if  Francis  Joseph  had  been  the  son 
of  a  simple  prince,  so  that  she  might  have  con- 
tinued to  follow  her  taste  for  the  joys  of  nature 
which  she  had  so  thoroughly  enjoyed  in  her 
childhood. 

To  begin  with,  the  behaviour  of  the  Arch- 
duchess was  only  depressing  to  her  niece,  but 
later  on  it  roused  in  her  a  strong  feeling  of 
opposition.  We  know  that  the  young  bride  had 
come  to  Vienna  with  her  heart  filled  with  hopes 
and  dreams  ;  but  at  the  same  time  with  the  con- 
viction that  she,  and  she  alone,  would  occupy  the 
first  place  by  the  side  of  her  husband.  Her 
mother-in-law  quietly  pushed  her  into  the  back- 
ground each  time  that  she  exercised  her  right  as 
Empress  to  come  forward.  She  deliberately 
crushed  all  her  hopes,  blighted  every  longing, 


52  EMPRESS  ELIZABETH 

and  overlooked  her  on  every  occasion  with 
evident  disregard  of  her  feelings. 

"  Madame  Mere,"  as  Sophie  was  called,  though 
she  in  no  wise  resembled  the  modest  mother  of 
Napoleon,  was  a  person  of  influence,  whose 
friendship  it  was  prudent  to  preserve.  It  was 
well  known  that  Francis  Joseph  had  proved  him- 
self impressionable  and  fickle  in  his  affections, 
and  it  was  surmised  that  he  would  soon  tire  of 
his  wife.  Elizabeth's  inexperience  made  her 
powerless  to  withstand  the  intrigues  of  a  court, 
and  it  was  therefore  the  universal  opinion  that 
the  mother-in-law  would  conquer  in  any  dispute 
between  her  son  and  his  wife. 

The  Empress  was  still  the  delight  of  the 
middle  classes  and  when  she  rode  in  The  Prater, 
or  large  public  park  of  Vienna,  by  her  husband's 
side,  she  irresistibly  won  each  heart  by  her  beauty 
and  her  affability. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  coolness  and  scorn 
which  she  met  with  from  the  narrow-minded 
courtiers  would  have  crushed  a  woman  with  less 
strength  of  character,  and  the  daughter  of  a  poor 
Duke  had  to  submit  to  constant  allusions  to  her 
unworthiness  to  occupy  her  exalted  position. 
Her  proud  heart  revolted  against  this  daily 
belittling  and  persecution.  It  is  difficult  to  speak 


EARL  Y  DIFFICUL  TIES  5 3 

amiably  with  sobs  in  one's  throat,  to  laugh  when 
tears  are  very  near,  to  put  on  one's  prettiest  and 
brightest  appearance,  when  a  dark  corner  in 
which  to  give  vent  to  one's  pain  is  all  that  one 
craves  for. 

Elizabeth  was  naturally  nervous,  and  though 
in  after  life  there  were  critical  moments  in  which 
her  self-sacrifice  was  great,  the  innumerable  little 
daily  yieldings  seemed  impossible  to  one  of  her 
temperament.  She  felt  herself  misunderstood  in 
her  best  thoughts  and  intentions,  and  gradually 
became  a  lonely  woman  at  her  own  court. 

The  Emperor  continued  to  treat  her  with 
attention,  but  misunderstandings  arose  between 
husband  and  wife  which  were  fostered  on  the  one 
hand  by  the  wounded  pride  of  Elizabeth,  and  on 
the  other  by  the  strenuous  efforts  of  her  mother- 
in-law  to  lower  her  in  the  eyes  of  her  son,  and 
much  as  the  Empress  loved  her  husband,  she 
kept  aloof  from  him,  she  would  be  no  "trouble- 
some child,"  as  the  Archduchess  called  her.  She 
was  crushed  and  acquired  a  look  of  melancholy 
and  sorrow  which  was  perfectly  new  to  her. 

But  in  this  truth-loving,  powerful  character, 
which  was  still  immature,  were  moments  of 
violent  intolerance,  which  were  not  calculated  to 
make  or  retain  friends.  She  felt  at  variance 


$4  IMPRESS  ELIZABETH 

with  the  cold  world  in  which  she  lived,  a  world 
full  of  selfishness  and  striving  for  mastery  and 
power.  Nervous,  ignorant  of  life  as  she  was,  she 
thought  to  defend  herself  by  similar  persecution, 
treating  the  ladies  who  took  her  mother-in-law's 
side  with  marked  coolness,  and  shewing  favour  to 
others  who  disappointed  and  betrayed  her. 


CHAPTER  VII 

TRAVELLING    IN   THE   PROVINCES— MATERNAL   CARES 

FROM  the  very  first  nothing  was  further  from  the 
wishes  of  the  young  Empress  than  to  occupy  her 
throne  in  lonely  majesty,  surrounded  by  select 
members  of  the  highest  ranks  of  the  aristocracy. 
She  longed  to  be  in  the  midst  of  the  people,  to 
make  the  acquaintance  of  her  subjects  and  their 
lands. 

In  her  early  married  days  she  was  frequently 
to  be  seen  in  the  streets  of  the  capital,  when  a 
crowd  would  be  collected  in  an  instant,  and 
people  jostled  and  hustled  each  other,  almost 
clinging  to  the  carriage  in  their  intense  eagerness 
to  see  her  as  close  as  possible. 

One  day,  without  announcing  her  intention, 
and  accompanied  only  by  a  single  lady-in-waiting, 
she  went  for  a  walk  in  the  city,  and  entered  a 
shop  in  one  of  the  most  frequented  thoroughfares, 
where  some  object  had  attracted  her  attention. 
But  it  was  no  pleasant  surprise  for  her  to  see 


£6  EMPRESS  ELIZABETH 

hundreds  of  people  tightly  packed  in  front  of  the 
shop,  when  she  emerged,  and  it  was  only  by  the 
exertions  of  the  police  that  a  way  could  be  forced 
for  her  and  her  companion. 

This  walk  caused  the  deepest  displeasure  at 
Court,  where  it  was  whispered  from  one  to  another, 

"Her  Majesty  appears  to  be  under  the  delusion 
that  she  is  still  among  her  Bavarian  mountains. 
She  forgets  that  she  is  Empress  of  Austria,  and 
what  is  due  to  her  position." 

Alarmed  at  the  result  of  this  first  attempt  to 
mix  with  the  people,  she  avoided  shewing  herself 
in  crowded  streets  as  far  as  possible,  and  restricted 
her  walks  to  the  secluded  parts  of  the  Castle 
garden,  or  to  the  extensive  grounds  of  Schonbruun. 
But  this  was  wrong  in  the  eyes  of  the  Court,  and 
the  very  same  persons  who  had  lately  blamed  her 
for  walking  in  the  streets,  complained  of  her  be- 
cause she  did  not  do  so !  It  was  now  : 

"  The  Empress  forgets  the  demands  of  her 
position,  and  that  she  is  in  duty  bound  to  shew  her- 
self to  the  people  as  frequently  as  possible." 

The  uncharitable  judgment  passed  upon  Eliza- 
beth, whatever  she  did,  or  did  not,  forced  her  to 
withdraw  more  and  more  into  herself,  and  these 
ill-natured  members  of  the  Court  were  the  cause 
of  harm  that  could  never  be  undone,  for  as  the 


TRAVELLING  IN  THE  PROVINCES  5? 

Empress  grew  older,  more  matured  and  inde- 
pendent, the  wish  to  shew  herself  in  the  capital 
had  vanished.  She  had  inherited  a  disposition  to 
lead  a  retired  life,  if  possible,  that  of  a  spectator 
only,  and  once  she  had  tasted  the  delights  of  soli- 
tude, she  appreciated  it  too  keenly  to  be  willing 
to  renounce  it. 

In  the  meantime  the  inhabitants  of  the  more 
distant  parts  of  the  Empire,  Bohemia,  Moravia, 
Galicia  and  Hungary  were  eager  to  bid  her  wel- 
come, and  a  few  months  after  their  marriage, 
Francis  Joseph  and  his  consort  paid  their  first 
visit  to  Moravia  and  Bohemia.  In  September, 
1856,  they  travelled  in  the  Austrian  Alps  where 
their  stay  is  kept  in  remembrance  until  now  by 
pictures  and  ballads  treasured  by  the  inhabitants 
of  the  lonely  "  sceterhytter,"  or  dwellings  in  the 
high  mountain  pasture  lands  which  are  so  com- 
pletely isolated  from  the  outer  world. 

From  Heiligenblut,*  where  they  passed  the 
night  at  the  priest's  house,  the  Emperor  and 
Empress  ascended  the  Grossglockner,  after  hear- 
ing mass  at  4  A.M.  in  the  little  chapel,  and  ac- 

*  "  The  loftiest  village  in  Carinthia,  derives  its  name  from  a  phial 
of  the  "  Holy  Blood"  said  to  have  been  brought  from  Constanti- 
nople by  St.  Briccius,  and  now  preserved  in  the  church  here,  an 
edifice  of  the  I5th  century.'"' — Baedeker. 


$8  EMPRESS  ELIZABETH 

companied  by  a  couple  of  the  most  experienced 
guides.  Elizabeth  rode  part  of  the  way,  but  the 
Emperor  was  on  foot.  About  1800  meters  above 
the  level  of  the  sea  he  gathered  some  edelweiss 
in  a  steep  declivity  which  he  gave  to  his  wife, 
observing : 

"  This  is  the  first  edelweiss  I  have  ever 
picked."  At  the  so-called  Wallner-hiitte,  the 
Empress  remained  behind  to  rest,  while  Francis 
Joseph  ascended  the  Glockner-Sattel,*  and  in 
memory  of  the  ascent  the  Wallner-hiitte  was  re- 
named "  Elizabethruhe." 

From  here  they  proceeded  to  Styria,  Marburg 
being  their  first  stopping-place,  and  in  the  even- 
ing of  September  nth,  they  arrived  at  Gratz, 
picturesquely  situated  and  basking  in  a  perfect 
sea  of  light.  Here  they  were  received  with 
enthusiasm,  as  indeed  they  had  been  all  through 
their  travels. 

On  November  i7th,  of  this  same  year,  the 
Emperor  and  Empress  started  for  Italy,  which  at 
that  time  was  still  under  Imperial  rule,  and  crossed 
in  the  man-of-war  "  Elizabeth "  from  Trieste  to 
Venice.  There  had  been  some  anxiety  lest  the 
strained  political  relations,  and  the  opposition  of 
the  Italians  to  the  Austrian  rule  should  be  ex- 

*  2,400  meters  above  the  sea  level. 


TRAVELLING  IN  THE  PROVINCES  $9 

pressed  in  a  somewhat  cool  reception.  But  the 
"Queen  of  the  Adriatic,"  as  lovely  Venice  has 
been  styled,  had  clothed  herself  in  her  best  to 
welcome  the  young  Empress.  The  Piazza  San 
Marco  was  brilliantly  illuminated  and  fetes  and 
masquerades  were  in  preparation. 

Elizabeth  won  all  hearts  by  her  amiability  and 
beauty,  women  even  falling  on  their  knees  to  kiss 
her  hands,  and  Francis  Joseph  one  day  observed 
to  her  : 

"  Your  charm  has  done  more  to  win  over  these 
people  than  all  my  soldiers  with  bayonets  and 
cannon  could  possibly  effect." 

And  the  welcome  in  Milan  was  so  hearty,  that 
the  Emperor  exclaimed  : 

"  I  have  forgotten  all  former  affronts."  On 
the  first  anniversary  of  her  birthday  that  Eliza- 
beth spent  in  Austria,  the  Diet  in  Buda-Pesth 
sent  a  deputation  to  congratulate  her  and  to  beg 
her  to  visit  Hungary  as  soon  as  possible,  to  which 
she  replied  : 

"  Ever  since  I  have  been  connected  with  the 
Kingdom  of  Hungary  by  such  dear  and  indis- 
soluble bonds,  I  have  taken  the  keenest  interest 
in  its  welfare ;  but,  if  it  is  possible,  my  feelings 
have  been  intensified  by  the  hearty  good  wishes 
I  have  received  to-day,  and  which  have  been  so 


60  EMPRESS  ELIZABETH 

enthusiastically  interpreted  in  your  speech.  Ac- 
cept my  sincere  thanks,  and  offer  my  warmest 
greetings  to  the  members  of  your  Dich,  whose 
kind  wish  to  see  me  in  Hungary,  will,  I  trust,  be 
fulfilled  at  no  distant  date." 

It  will  be  remembered  that  Francis  Joseph 
was  but  a  youth  when  his  uncle,  the  Emperor 
Ferdinand  abdicated  in  his  favour,  December 
2nd,  1848,  and  withdrew  to  Prague,  where  he 
died  June  29th,  1875.  "  Der  Blutjunge,"  as  his 
enemies  derisively  styled  the  eighteen-year  old 
sovereign  over  the  dominions  of  the  Habsburgs, 
was  called  upon  to  take  the  field  against  the 
revolutionary  Hungarians,  almost  from  the  day 
of  his  coronation. 

He  was  unable  to  quell  the  disturbances  alone 
and  appealed  for  assistance  to  the  Tsar  Nicholas 
I.  of  Russia,  who  placed  100,000  of  his  soldiers  at 
his  service,  with  whose  help  and  the  most  drastic 
measures,  he  subdued  the  turbulent  land.  In- 
numerable towns,  villages,  and  country-seats,  were 
reduced  to  ashes,  the  land  reeked  with  blood,  and 
the  sores  of  the  people  seemed  almost  incurable. 

The  nation  submitted  to  its  hard  fate  with 
smothered  resentment,  and  when  the  Emperor 
visited  Hungary  again  and  again  before  his 
marriage,  it  was  only  to  experience  a  rancorous 


TRA  YELLING  IN  THE  PROVINCES  61 

temper  that  nothing  could  soften,  or  to  encounter 
the  stubborn  passive  resistance  of  the  people. 
This  hatred  was  still  smouldering  at  the  time  of 
his  marriage  five  years  later,  when  as  we  have 
seen  he  granted  a  general  pardon  to  political 
offenders  in  all  his  dominions,  and  this  act  of 
lenity  on  his  part  was  at  last  met  by  a  con- 
ciliatory response  from  the  other  side,  though 
the  first  glimmer  of  friendship  shone  upon  the 
Queen,  not  upon  him.  It  was  her  smile  that 
melted  the  ice  round  the  hearts  of  the  Hungarians, 
her  goodness  and  beauty  which  laid  the  first 
foundation  of  a  better  relation  between  them  and 
the  royal  house. 

It  became  known  that  Elizabeth  had  zealously 
occupied  herself  with  the  study  of  the  Hungarian 
language,  one  of  the  most  difficult  in  Europe, 
that  she  patronised  Hungarian  art,  and  that  she 
was  deeply  interested  in  the  manners  and  customs 
of  the  country  generally.  Besides  which  it  was 
observed  that  the  weal  or  woe  of  the  Hungarians 
was  one  of  the  few  causes  for  which  she  tried 
to  exert  the  least  political  influence,  and  it  is  said 
that  she  shed  tears  on  the  occasion  when  her 
husband  refused  to  accede  to  the  wishes  of  the 
people. 

The  question  most  naturally  arises  as  to  what 


62  EMPRESS  ELIZABETH 

could  have  been  the  reason  that  a  princess  born 
far  away  from  Hungary,  who  in  her  childhood 
never  heard  a  sound  of  its  language,  and  never 
had  the  faintest  suspicion  that  she  would  ever  be 
connected  with  the  country — could  have  become 
so  rapidly  and  so  warmly  attached  to  it  ? 

The  enigma  can  only  be  psychologically  solved. 
When  she  entered  the  Hofburg,  within  whose 
walls  was  now  her  home,  she  became  conscious 
of  a  prevailing  feeling  of  ill-will  against  the 
people  of  Hungary.  Every  liberal  movement 
was  an  abomination  to  the  Archduchess  Sophie, 
the  ruling  spirit  of  the  Court,  as  well  as  to  the 
priests  and  statesmen  who  were  her  coadjutors. 
They  were  still  under  the  influence  of  the  attempt 
of  the  Hungarians  to  "break  their  bands  and  cast 
away  their  cords,"  so  that  the  young  Empress 
heard  many  a  hard  word  and  unfavourable  judg- 
ment on  her  subjects  on  the  other  side  of  the 
Leitha. 

Hers  was  a  combative  nature,  and  with  her 
decided  independent  character,  she  longed  to 
study  the  case  for  herself,  to  become  convinced 
how  far  the  Court  party  was  right  or  not.  In 
this  way  she  quickly  acquired  a  perfectly  opposite 
impression  to  the  one  she  was  intended  to  have. 
She  felt  herself  attracted  by  the,  open-hearted, 


TRAVELLING  IN  THE  PROVINCES  63 

knightly  bearing  of  the  Hungarians,  as  well  as 
by  qualities  in  them  which  responded  to  her  own. 
She  hoped  by  intercourse  in  their  own  language 
to  gain  a  more  intimate  knowledge  of  their 
character,  and  it  was  this  that  stimulated  her  to 
study  with  a  seriousness  and  zeal  that  feared  no 
difficulties,  and  made  her  not  only  a  proficient  in 
understanding  the  language,  but  capable  of 
speaking  it  like  a  native,  in  which  she  far 
surpassed  any  former  member  of  the  ruling  house 
of  Habsburg. 

"Queen  Elizabeth  spoke  our  tongue  free  from 
the  least  trace  of  a  foreign  accent,"  says  the  Hun- 
garian author  Maurus  Jokai,  "she  pronounced 
it  like  a  true  countrywoman,  not  so  affectedly  as 
most  of  the  ladies  of  our  aristocracy,  and  the 
clear  silvery  tones  of  her  voice  still  linger  in  my 
ear."  Her  first  Hungarian  master  was  an  old 
Professor  named  Homoky,  whose  method  was 
painfully  wearisome ;  but  not  even  this  was 
sufficient  to  make  her  swerve  from  the  goal  she 
had  appointed  for  herself. 

Many  years  later,  she  enquired  of  a  gentleman, 
a  former  pupil  of  Homoky 's  : 

"  Had  you  to  write  as  much  ?  I  wrote  till  my 
fingers  ached,"  she  added. 

Homoky  had  taught  her  grammar   and  made 


64  EMPRESS  ELIZABETH 

her  understand  quite  easy  Hungarian  books,  but 
this  was  far  from  enough,  she  wished  to  improve 
and  polish  her  composition,  as  well  as  gain  a 
thorough  knowledge  of  Hungarian  literature. 

Dr.  Max  Falk,  a  journalist  in  Vienna,  was  her 
next  teacher,*  and  adopted  quite  another  plan. 
With  his  help  and  encouragement,  Elizabeth 
began  to  read  the  best  Hungarian  authors,  as 
well  as  listen  to  his  lectures  on  the  people,  in 
which  he  dwelt  with  emphasis  on  more  recent 
times.  Then  he  gave  her  real  work  full  of 
interest  and  amusement,  the  translation  into 
Hungarian  of  the  French  correspondence  between 
Joseph  II.  of  Austria  and  Catherine  II.  of  Russia 
published  by  Arneth. 

Max  Falk  was  enthusiastic  over  her  diligence 
and  the  almost  pedantic  regularity  with  which  she 
fulfilled  her  duties  as  his  pupil,  both  in  and  out  of 
lesson  hours.  One  morning  she  handed  to  him 
her  translation  into  Hungarian,  and  observed  : 

"  I  was  engaged  the  whole  of  yesterday  with 
receptions,  and  in  the  evening  there  was  a  state 
concert,  after  which  I  was  so  tired  that  I  went  to 
bed.  Then  I  suddenly  remembered  that  I  had 

*  Dr.  Max  Falk,  the  present  editor  of  the  "  Pesther  Lloyd"  and 
a  member  of  the  Hungarian  Diet,  has  described  the  time  when  he 
was  teaching  the  Empress  in  his  "  Memoirs,"  which  belong  to  the 
most  fascinating  that  have  been  written  concerning  Elizabeth. 


TRA  VELLING  IN  THE  PROVINCES  65 

not  written  my  Hungarian  composition,  so  I  tore 
a  leaf  out  of  an  almanac  on  a  table  by  my  bed- 
side, and  translated  a  tale.  Pardon  me  that  it  is 
written  in  pencil !  " 

It  was  not  until  May,  1857,  that  Francis  Joseph 
was  able  to  take  the  Empress  to  Hungary,  where 
they  had  a  splendid  reception,  and  the  young 
Queen  was  heartily  cheered.  A  considerable 
tour  in  the  country  had  been  planned  which  had 
suddenly  to  be  relinquished. 

By  this  time  there  were  two  little  girls,  the 
Archduchesses  Sophie  and  Gisela,  and  hardly  had 
the^Court  been  installed  in  the  royal  castle  of  Buda, 
than  news  was  received  of  the  illness  of  the  elder 
child  now  two  years  old.  Then  came  reassuring 
accounts  from  the  physicians,  but  on  the  arrival 
of  their  Majesties  at  Debreczin  May  28th,  they 
found  letters  announcing  that  the  child  was  worse. 
The  parents  hastened  back  to  Buda-Pesth,  but 
their  little  Sophie  died  the  following  evening. 

Elizabeth  left  Hungary  with  tears  in  her  eyes. 
One  of  her  first  heavy  troubles  had  overtaken  her 
during  this  visit  to  the  Magyars,  and  it  is 
possible  that  sorrow  brought  her  still  nearer  to 
the  people  whom  in  after  life  she  would  learn  to 
love  so  dearly,  and  who  in  return  adored  and 
honoured  her  as  a  mother,  and  a  guardian  angel. 

5 


CHAPTER  VIII 

BIRTH   OF   THE   CROWN    PRINCE   RUDOLPH — WAR   OF    1859 

WE  have  seen  in  the  last  chapter  that  the  young 
Empress  and  Queen  lost  her  eldest  child 
during  her  visit  to  Hungary,  and  we  have  also 
learnt  how  keen  were  the  disappointments  that 
crushed  her  bright  expectations  when  she  began 
life  in  Vienna.  But  the  fact  that  she  hoped  to 
become  a  mother  encouraged  her  to  be  patient  in 
the  face  of  annoyances,  and  while  the  Emperor 
and  his  family  hoped  and  longed  for  an  heir  to 
the  throne,  the  Empress  only  craved  for  a  child 
that  would  fill  the  void  in  her  life. 

On  March  5th,  1855,  a  daughter  was  born  and 
called  after  the  Emperor's  mother.  From  early 
morning  the  roads  leading  to  the  Imperial  Castle 
of  Laxenburg,  where  the  Empress  was  staying, 
had  been  thronged  with  people,  while  the  nobility, 
the  highest  officials  in  the  civil  service,  and  the 
army  had  assembled  in  the  H  of  burg. 

The    disappointment   was    keen    when    it    was 


BIRTH  OF  CROWN  PRINCE  RUDOLPH  67 

announced  that  the  child  was  only  a  daughter, 
scarcity  prevailed  in  the  land,  and  not  a  fete  of 
any  kind  celebrated  the  birth  and  christening  of 
the  little  one. 

Elizabeth  was  too  young  and  inexperienced  to 
grasp  the  significance  of  the  universal  displeasure 
that  she  had  not  presented  a  Crown  Prince  to  the 
Empire,  though  she  was  not  slow  to  read  the 
the  vexation  in  the  faces  around  her,  including 
that  of  the  Emperor  himself. 

The  dissatisfaction  became  still  more  intensified 
on  the  birth  of  the  second  daughter  July  i2th, 
1856.* 

The  Empress  took  serious  views  of  her  duties 
as  a  mother,  and  at  that  time  would  have  wished 
for  nothing  better  than  to  employ  her  time,  and 
sacrifice  herself  for  her  children.  But  the  Arch- 
duchess Sophie  insisted  on  taking  them  away 
from  her,  on  limiting  her  to  the  state  rooms  in  the 
Hofburg,  where  the  poor  mother  felt  like  a  visitor, 
and  on  isolating  the  little  ones  in  a  side  wing  of 
the  huge  old  castle. 

Elizabeth  involuntarily  contrasted  her  lot  with 
that  of  her  own  mother,  the  mistress  of  Possenhofen, 
whose  full  busy  life  was  passed  in  work  and  noble 

*Gisela,  married  in   1873  to   Prince  Leopold   of  Bavaria,   the 
second  son  of  the  present  Prince  Regent. 


68  EMPRESS  ELIZABETH 

self-denial  for  her  children,  the  mere  thought  of 
which  made  her  daughter  smart  under  present 
circumstances.  She  was  forced  to  lead  "a  butterfly 
life,"  in  virtue  of  her  exalted  position  to  exist 
solely  to  cultivate  her  beauty  and  exhibit  her 
finery,  while  her  motherly  instincts  were  only 
allowed  expression  at  rare  intervals  when  she 
feebly  tried  to  play  with  her  little  ones. 

The  necessity  of  providing  an  heir  to  the  throne 
was  so  frequently  and  so  urgently  pressed  upon 
her  that  she  became  anxious  and  excited,  and  it 
is  said,  that  she  one  day  asked  her  mother  : 

"  Do  you  think  that  Francis  will  follow  Na- 
poleon's example  and  annul  our  marriage,  if  I  do 
not  have  a  son." 

"  You  must  not  worry  about  such  things,  my 
child,  you  know  that  Francis  loves  you  devotedly," 
was  the  reply,  but  the  prudent  mother  is  said  to 
have  added  :  "  There  are  two  classes  of  women, 
those  who  obtain  all  that  they  wish  for,  and  those 
whose  wishes  are  never  fulfilled.  You  seem  to 
me  to  be  one  of  the  latter ;  you  have  excellent 
abilities  and  a  noble  disposition,  but  you  are 
deficient  in  one  respect  :  you  cannot  sink  yourself 
to  the  level  of  your  associates,  nor  accustom 
yourself  to  circumstances,  you  belong  to  another 
period  than  ours,  that  in  which  saints  and  martyrs 


6g 

existed.  Do  not  attract  notice  by  being  too 
obviously  the  former,  nor  break  your  own  heart 
by  fancying  yourself  to  be  the  latter." 

Elizabeth  longed  with  ever  increasing  fervour 
that  she  might  become  the  mother  of  a  son,  in 
which  case  she  hoped  that  life  would  shine  more 
brightly  for  her  than  it  had  done  in  these  first 
years  of  her  marriage. 

Her  wishes  were  to  be  partly  fulfilled,  when  a 
fine,  though  not  strong  boy,  was  born  in  the 
evening  of  August  2ist,  1858,  and  the  overjoyed 
father,  dispensing  with  all  ceremonies,  placed  the 
order  of  the  Golden  Fleece  in  the  cradle  of  his  son. 
The  news  was  telegraphed  the  following  morning 
to  the  utmost  corners  of  the  earth,  and  a  salvo  of 
101  guns  reverberated  from  every  fortress  in 
Austria  and  Hungary.  The  event  was  hailed 
with  joy  by  millions  of  inhabitants  and  the  churches 
of  the  vast  Empire  became  thronged  with  wor- 
shippers to  pray  for  the  safety  of  mother  and 
child. 

The  Emperor  drove  about  the  capital  with 
almost  dangerous  rapidity,  and  was  greeted  with 
hearty  cheering  at  every  turn.  A  perfect  sea  of 
light  shone  around  in  honour  of  the  new-born 

*  The   above  quotation  and  a  few  details  in  Chapter  XIV.  are 
taken  from  "  The  Martyrdom  of  an  Empress." 


76  EMPRESS  ELIZABETH 

baby  transparencies  with  glowing  words  of  hom- 
age to  the  Imperial  couple  and  their  child  were 
placed  in  every  available  spot,  and  the  National 
Hymn,  to  which  the  following  verse  had  been 
added,  was  vociferously  sung  :— 

"An  des  Kaisers  Seite  waltet 
Shm  verwandt  durch  Stamm  und  Sinn, 
Reich  an  Reiz,  der  nie  veraltet, 
Unsere  holde  Kaiserin. 
Was  das  Gliick  zuhochst  gepriesen, 
Strom'  auf  sie  der  Himmel  aus  ! 
Heil  Franz  Joseph,  Heil  Elisen, 
Segen  Habsburgs  ganzem  Haus  ! " 

(Crowned  at  our  gracious  Kaiser's  side, 

His  consort  shares  the  throne, 

Rich  in  unfading  charms;  one  race, 

One  will,  one  heart  they  own. 

Hail  to  our  gracious  Emperor  then  ! 

Hail  to  his  royal  bride  ! 

All  blessings  to  the  lordly  house 

Of  Habsburg's  line  betide). 

The  universal  enthusiasm  rose  still  higher 
when  the  Crown  Prince  was  baptized  by  the 
name  of  the  great  founder  of  the  house  of  Austria, 
Rudolph  von  Habsburg.* 

On  receiving  the  congratulations  of  the  different 

*  Hapsburg,  Habsburg  or  Habichtsburg,  was  an  ancient  castle 
on  a  lofty  eminence  near  Brugg,  Aargau,  Switzerland.  Rudolph, 
Count  of  Habsburg,  became  Archduke  of  Austria  and  Emperor  of 
Germany,  1273. 


WAR  OF  sfyp  71 


municipal  bodies  of  Vienna,  the  Emperor 
replied  : 

"  Heaven  has  sent  me  a  son  who  will  one  day 
see  a  new,  larger  and  more  beautiful  city.  But 
whatever  changes  there  may  be  in  the  capital, 
the  Prince  will  always  find  the  old  loyal  hearts, 
who,  if  it  should  ever  prove  necessary,  will  devote 
themselves  to  his  cause,  under  all  circumstances." 

In  the  character  of  the  historical  Muse,  the 
celebrated  actress  of  the  H  of  burg  Theatre,  Frau 
Rettich,  declaimed  an  adulatory  prologue  from 
the  stage  on  the  evening  of  August  22nd,  com- 
posed by  Frieclrich  Halm,*  and  beginning  : 

"  Hier  steht  das  Jahr,  der  Tag  hier  eingegraben, 

Der  Rest  der  Tafel  aber  bleibe  leer, 

Denn  ich  muss  Raum  fiir  seine  Thaten  haben  ; 

Und  Grosses,  ahn  '  ich,  schreib  '  ich  noch  hieher.  .  .  " 

(The  day  and  the  year  of  his  birth  are  writ, 
The  rest  of  the  page  stands  white  ; 
For  I  must  have  space  his  deeds  to  tell, 
And  I  feel  and  I  know  in  my  heart  right  well 
Their  tale  will  indeed  be  bright.) 

Famous  and  minor  poets  all  foretold  the  greatness 
and  glory  of  this  new  scion  of  the  house  of 
Habsburg  in  stirring  verse,  but  one  only  struck  a 
serious  note  in  the  jubilant  chorus  of  song.  This 

*Born  in  Cracow  1806,  and  at  this  date  (1858)  Custodian  of 
the  Imperial  Library  in  Vienna. 


?2  EMPRESS  ELIZABETH 

was  Ludwig  Anzengruber,  who  afterwards  became 
famous,  and  ventured  to  hope  that  the  child  might 
never  experience  how  painfully  heavy  a  crown 
can  be. 

For  a  moment  Rudolph's  mother  was  popular, 
her  enemies  were  silenced,  her  mother-in-law  was 
satisfied,  and  she  herself  was  happy,  though  she 
observed  : 

"  Nobody  seems  to  have  wanted  me  hitherto, 
not  even  my  little  girl,  who  is  kept  away  from 
me.  But  I  will  never  allow  my  boy  to  leave  me, 
to  grow  up  among  strangers  ;  he  must  cling  to 
me,  and  we  will  make  each  other  happy." 

Again  she  was  mistaken.  Rudolph  was  at 
once  dismissed  to  the  nursery  in  that  far  distant 
wing  of  the  castle,  and  it  was  in  vain  that  his 
mother  appealed  against  the  arrangement.  Her 
mother-in-law  was  in  authority,  and  the  imperious 
Archduchess  would  not  allow  that  the  heir  to  one 
of  the  most  powerful  states  of  Europe  should  be 
brought  up  by  the  young  Empress  who,  according 
to  her  opinion,  did  not  even  know  how  to  conduct 
herself. 

When  Elizabeth  entreated  for  permission  to 
undertake  her  maternal  duties,  and  added  what  a 
comfort  it  would  be  to  have  the  child  under  her 
own  protection,  the  Archduchess  became  angry? 


WAR  OF  s$59  73 

maintained  that  she  had  every  reason  to  be 
perfectly  happy,  and  would  not  admit  that  she 
had  any  need  of  comfort. 

The  mother-in-law  was  apparently  right,  for  to 
the  ignorant  eye,  Elizabeth  had  gained  by  her 
marriage  all  that  the  world  had  to  offer.  But 
hers  was  no  superficial  nature,  and  material 
splendour  was  no  compensation  for  disappointed 
hopes,  or  the  void  of  her  own  heart. 

Her  position  became  still  more  painful  when 
the  Emperor's  brother,  Ferdinand  Maximilian,  in 
the  summer  of  1857  married  Charlotte,  the 
ambitious  daughter  of  the  King  of  the  Belgians, 
who  immediately  attached  herself  to  the  court 
party,  which  was  opposed  to  the  Empress.  She 
became  a  great  favourite  with  the  Archduchess, 
and  the  fact  that  she  herself  had  no  children, 
increased  her  jealousy  ot  her  sister-in-law. 

In  the  meantime,  dark  clouds  were  forming  on 
the  political  horizon,  discontent  was  seething 
among  the  Italian  subjects  of  the  Emperor,  and  a 
general  spirit  of  dissatisfaction  with  the  govern- 
ment was  apparent  in  every  part  of  the  Habsburg 
dominions. 

It  was  no  secret  that  the  threads  of  home  and 
foreign  policy  were  in  the  powerful  hands  of  the 
Archduchess,  and  the  Austrians  did  not  scruple 


74  EMPRESS  ELIZABETH 

to  affirm   that  it  was  she  who  declared   war   or 
made  peace.* 

This  power  naturally  provoked  resistance  in 
many  circles,  and  the  army  and  civil  service 
united  with  the  citizens  in  expressing  their  strong 
disapprobation  of  this  "petticoat  government." 

When  the  war  broke  out  between  France  and 
Sardinia  in  1859,  the  indisputable  interests  of  the 
Empire  and  its  dependencies  were  of  far  inferior 
importance  to  Sophie  than  the  maintenance  of  the 
power  of  the  Jesuits.  Elizabeth  saw  clearly  the 
fatal  error  her  husband  was  making  in  allowing 
himself  to  be  ruled  even  in  political  matters  by  his 
mother,  and  she  had  a  feverish  longing  to  come 
forward  and  interfere,  but  she  was  utterly 
powerless.  Her  counsel  was  never  asked,  it  was 
not  even  wished  that  she  should  have  an  opinion, 
much  less  express  one. 

While  Francis  Joseph  was  fighting  at  Solferino, 
and  his  mother  was  writing  letters  to  the  Courts 
of  Europe,  or  holding  lengthy  conferences  with 
statesmen  and  diplomatists,  the  Empress  had  to 
limit  her  activity  by  visiting  the  sick  and  wounded 
officers,  and  men  from  the  battle-fields  of  Italy. 
She  went  like  an  angel  of  mercy  from  one  hospital 
to  another,  from  one  bed  to  another,  enquiring 

*  Bernhardi's  Memoirs. 


WAR  OF  18^9  7§ 

about  the  food,  distributing  both  money  and 
cigars,  and  speaking  many  an  encouraging  word 
that  "fell  upon  good  ground,"  because  it  came 
unmistakably  from  the  heart,  and  was  free  from 
the  current  cant  of  the  day. 

The  hypocrisy  which  clothed  so  many  of  the 
actions  of  the  Archduchess  Sophie  was  intensely 
objectionable  to  Elizabeth,  who  did  not  disguise 
her  displeasure  at  the  superior  influence  of  the 
clerical  party. 

It  happened  once  that  the  Papal  Nuncio  was 
standing  near  her  on  the  occasion  of  a  Court  ball, 
when  his  feet  became  entangled  in  her  long  train, 
which  the  Empress  wrenched  away  with  a  wrath- 
ful glance,  accompanied  by  such  force  that  the 
unfortunate  messenger  from  the  Holy  Father  was 
nearly  thrown  to  the  ground. 

The  scene  caused  amusement  in  those  circles 
that  were  convinced  that  she  would  with  equal 
pleasure  have  thrown  him  down  in  the  ball-room, 
as  crushed  his  influence  in  the  castle. 


CHAPTER  IX 

CONJUGAL      DIFFERENCES — ELIZABETH'S     ILL-HEALTH — HER     STAY     IN 
MADEIRA 

AFFAIRS  of  State,  the  pleasures  of  the  chase,  the 
allurements  of  society,  as  well  as  his  tendency  to 
revert  to  the  gay  life  of  his  bachelor  days,  surely 
tended  to  deepen  the  gulf  that  already  existed 
between  the  young  couple. 

Francis  Joseph  was  of  an  amiable  character, 
but  he  had  many  weak  points,  and  on  a  closer 
acquaintance,  he  certainly  did  not  come  up  to  the 
ideal  which  Elizabeth  had  formed  of  him. 

She  was  too  proud  either  to  coax,  to  flatter,  or  to 
fight  for  the  possession  of  his  affection.  On  the 
other  hand,  her  growing  disinclination  to  frequent 
the  society  of  the  Court  drove  her  husband  to 
leave  her  again  and  again  ;  he  became  wearied  of 
her  silence  and  reserve  which  operated  as  a 
perpetual  reproach  to  him.  When  she  did  appear 
in  the  full  splendour  of  her  dignified  womanhood, 
her  expressive  eyes  had  a  look  of  distrust  and 
scorn,  so  that  her  former  bright  open  countenance 


CONJUGAL  DIFFERENCES  77 

began  to  show  features  that  were  sharp  and 
haggard.  But  she  was  persecuted  unmercifully 
by  her  enemies  at  the  Court,  who  spied  upon  her 
and  watched  for  the  veriest  trifle  that  might  be 
turned  to  her  disadvantage,  and  retailed  to  her 
husband,  who  simply  neglected  her  the  more. 
Elizabeth  had  married  in  ignorance,  and  from  the 
first  had  never  requited  the  passionate  devotion  of 
the  Emperor.  She  had  been  brought  up  in  the 
strictest  principles  of  virtue  and  morality,  and  also 
as  a  child  had  witnessed  the  happy  union  of  her 
parents,  so  that  she  naturally  counted  on  the  love 
of  her  husband  to  create  her  own  life-long  bliss. 
Her  lonely  position  in  Vienna  in  the  midst  of 
hostile  elements  had  given  her  a  longing  to  be 
doubly  near  to  him,  but  reality  had  dispelled  every 
illusion.  It  was  not  that  she  had  lost  her  influence 
over  him,  and  possibly  not  that  she  was  atraid  of 
having  forfeited  his  love,  but  she  felt  crushed, 
because  she  had  no  confidence  in  him. 

The  proud  daughter  of  the  Wittelsbachs  looked 
upon  pity  as  the  worst  of  insults,  an  alms  that 
branded  her  as  a  beggar,  and  she  hid  her  dis- 
appointment as  closely  as  possible  from  the  eyes 
of  men,  to  lead  an  inner  life  of  bitter  self-conscious- 
ness, opposed  to  the  world  around  that  found  its 
pleasure  in  her  torment. 


78  EMPRESS  ELIZABETH 

The  levity  that  prevailed  at  the  Court  could 
not  tolerate  perfect  virtue,  and  sought  for  some 
blot  in  the  irreproachable  life  of  their  Em- 
press. 

Small  wonder  that  her  health  began  to  suf- 
fer, though  she  struggled  courageously  against 
physical  weakness. 

Some  little  time  after  the  birth  of  the  Crown 
Prince,  she  became  ill  of  a  sickness  that  puzzled 
her  physicians,  who,  after  many  consultations, 
finally  agreed  that  her  lungs  were  affected. 
She  was  enjoined  to  take  the  greatest  care 
to  maintain  what  strength  she  had,  and  the 
injunctions  not  unnaturally  increased  her  de- 
pression. She  grew  more  ailing  from  day  to 
day,  from  month  to  month,  when  it  was  suggested 
that  she  should  try  a  visit  to  Madeira,  which 
at  that  time  was  considered  the  best  resort 
for  consumptive  patients.  But  in  spite  of  the 
ravages  of  some  disease  that  was  aging  her 
countenance  and  attenuating  her  frame,  she 
persisted  in  her  aversion  to  undertake  the 
voyage  until  early  in  1861. 

It  was  a  sad  departure  and  there  were  many 
who  doubted  that  she  would  reach  the  island 
alive,  while  she  herself  possibly  least  of  all, 
expected  restoration  to  health  ;  but  she  accepted 


ELIZABETH'S  STA  Y  IN  MADEIRA  79 

her  lot  with  a  patience  that  inspired  her  suite 
with  respect,  not  unmixed  with  pain. 

Europe  was  then  enveloped  in  fog  and 
frost,  but  when  she  reached  Madeira  after  a 
week's  voyage,  she  was  met  by  summer,  tropical 
vegetation,  brilliant  sunshine,  and  a  clear  blue 
sky. 

Her  residence  was  charmingly  situated,  sur- 
rounded by  a  wide  verandah,  and  containing 
spacious  apartments  for  herself,  connected  with 
wide  folding-doors  and  handsomely  furnished ; 
but  the  rooms  occupied  by  her  ladies  and  gentle- 
men were  poor. 

Immediately  behind  the  house  was  a  chain 
of  mountains  with  heights  from  4-5000  feet, 
and  from  the  entrance  a  path  led  through 
the  grounds  to  a  broad  terrace  overlooking  the 
sea.  Early  in  March  the  whole  island  was  a 
beautiful  flower-garden,  the  cutting  of  the  sugar- 
canes  was  just  beginning,  and  the  Empress 
enjoyed  almost  daily  excursions  in  the  balmy 
spring  weather. 

The  sickness  which  had  pressed  so  hard  upon 
her  was  a  deliverer.  It  had  freed  her  from  the 
crushing  life  of  the  Court,  and  the  long  solitude 
in  Madeira  was  to  strengthen  her  in  patience 
and  prepare  her  for  the  heavy  trials  which 


So  EMPRESS  ELIZABETH 

Providence  had  in  store,  while  during  her 
wanderings  by  the  sea  she  had  both  time  and 
calm  in  which  to  contemplate  her  position  in 
Vienna  and  the  conflicts  of  her  youth.  She 
thought  of  all  those  in  Bavaria  whom  she  had 
left,  and  the  recollection  of  the  peaceful  castle 
of  her  home,  of  the  adventures  and  romances 
she  had  heard  on  her  father's  knee  appeared 
vividly  before  her.  She  wrote  daily  letters  to 
her  husband,  her  parents  or  her  brothers  and 
sisters  ;  and  Helene,  who  in  the  mean  time  had 
married  the  Prince  of  Thurn  and  Taxis,  visited 
her  on  the  island. 

Few  vessels  touched  at  Madeira  then,  and 
life  was  very  monotonous.  It  was  happy  for 
Elizabeth  that  she  had  always  been  an  admirer 
of  nature,  and  now  it  became  doubly  dear  to 
her.  She  rose  early  and  studied  languages  or 
cultivated  her  musical  talent,  though  this  was 
far  from  sufficient  to  satisfy  her  activity,  and 
it  was  during  this  sojourn  that  she  first  ex- 
perienced the  new  rich  pleasure  of  poetry, 
which  became  a  solace  to  her  in  pain  or  loneli- 
ness. Her  books  were  her  friends  with  whom 
she  conversed  in  her  many  solitary  hours,  they 
soothed  the  tumultuous  longings  of  her  heart 
and  raised  her  above  the  pettinesses  of  life, 


ELIZABETHS  STA  Y  IN  MADEIRA  81 

In  the  mean  time  Vienna  was  awaiting  the 
news  of  the  Empress's  death,  but  heard  instead 
that  her  fits  of  coughing  were  becoming  less 
frequent  and  less  acute,  till  eventually  the 
message  arrived  that  the  mild  genial  climate  had 
brought  about  such  a  wonderful  improvement  in 
her  general  health,  that  after  an  absence  of 
four  months  she  was  returning  home. 

On  the  voyage  she  was  overtaken  by  a  violent 
storm,  when  her  vessel — Queen  Victoria's  yacht, 
"  Victoria  and  Albert  " —  was  tossed  like  a  nutshell 
on  the  foaming  sea.  The  Empress  remained  on 
deck  nearly  the  whole  time,  although  the  tower- 
ing waves  broke  over  her,  and  threatened  to 
engulf  her.  It  was  in  vain  that  the  Master 
of  her  Household  entreated  her  to  take  refuge 
in  her  cabin,  she  even  insisted  on  being  lashed 
to  the  mast  in  order  to  contemplate  the  fearful 
storm  in  all  its  magnificence. 

May  8th  she  landed  at  Trieste,  where  the 
Emperor  and  his  suite  had  arrived  the  preceding 
evening  to  receive  her.  Early  in  the  morning 
they  embarked  on  the  Imperial  yacht  "  Fantasia," 
accompanied  by  fine  gaily  decked  steamers  with 
the  aristocracy  of  Trieste  and  bands  of  music 
on  board.  The  vessels  met  outside  "  Porte 
Rose,"  and  Francis  Joseph  joined  his  wife  on 


82  EMPRESS  ELIZABETH 

the  "  Victoria  and  Albert,"  when,  about  10 
o'clock  the  first  gun  from  the  citadel  announced 
the  near  approach  of  the  little  flotilla  to  the 
landing-place,  for  the  handsome  and  sumptuously 
furnished  chateau  of  Miramare,  formerly  the 
property  of  Maximilian,  afterwards  Emperor  of 
Mexico,  where  the  official  reception  was  to  take 
place. 

A  celebrated  painting  depicts  the  moment 
when  the  youthful,  happy  Archduchess  Charlotte 
embraced  the  beautiful  Empress  on  the  grand 
marble  steps  that  lead  down  to  the  sea. 

It  was  in  Baden,  about  sixteen  miles  from 
Vienna  that  Elizabeth  saw  her  mother-in-law 
and  the  children,  and  five  days  later  the  Imperial 
pair  arrived  at  the  capital  where  the  railway 
station  was  gaily  decorated  with  flowers,  while 
the  road  to  the  Hofburg  was  crowded,  and  the 
Empress  bowed  repeatedly  from  her  open 
carriage. 

The  sincere  thankfulness  of  the  people  for  her 
recovery  was  shewn  in  their  hearty  reception, 
as  well  as  during  the  thanksgiving  services 
that  were  held  the  following  day. 


CHAPTER  X 

IN      CORFU  — RETURN      HOME— FLIGHT     FROM     VIENNA — THE     EMPRESS 
DURING  THE  WAR  OF  l866 

THE  long  stay  in  Madeira  had  not  brought,  the 
permanent  improvement  that  was  expected,  and 
the  Empress  had  not  been  many  weeks  in  Austria 
before  her  cough  returned,  and  she  again  felt 
weak  and  ill.  It  was  feared  that  the  physician 
had  mistaken  the  nature  of  her  malady,  and  in 
order  to  allay  her  alarm,  it  was  decided  that  she 
should  consult  her  parents'  doctor,  the  same  who 
had  attended  her  in  her  childhood,  and  he 
discovered  that  she  was  not  suffering  from 
consumption,  but  from  a  serious  internal  com- 
plaint. Both  physicians  agreed  that  she  must 
leave  home  again  as  quickly  as  possible,  not  for 
the  distant  island  of  Madeira,  but  for  the  nearer 
one  of  Corfu,  which  she  reached  after  a  voyage 
of  three  days,  just  a  month  after  her  return. 

It  was  confidently  affirmed  in  Vienna  that  it 
was  impossible  for  her  to  recover,  and  that  more- 
over her  days  on  earth  were  already  numbered. 


84  EMPRESS  ELIZABETH 

The  residence  assigned  to  her,  surrounded 
by  a  park  and  garden,  lay  about  half  an  hour's 
walk  from  Corfu  the  capital.  Every  precaution 
was  taken  to  ensure  perfect  quiet  for  the  invalid, 
even  the  morning  and  evening  firing  of  the 
cannon  from  the  fort  being  discontinued. 

She  became  attached  to  the  island  and  it  was 
soon  apparent  that  the  climate  was  far  more 
favourable  to  her  condition  than  that  of  Madeira, 
while  she  speedily  felt  an  improvement  in  her 
health. 

Not  far  from  the  house  she  occupied  lies  the 
hill  Aya  Kyriahi,  on  the  summit  of  which  is  a 
tiny  lonely  chapel  surrounded  by  a  cypress  grove, 
to  which  Elizabeth  climbed  every  morning  before 
sunrise,  and  many  years  afterwards,  on  her 
visits  to  the  island,  she  never  failed  to  return  to 
the  spot. 

"  I  love  it,"  she  used  to  say,  "  I  could  renounce 
all  desire  to  travel  farther  and  remain  here  for 
ever." 

Her  sister  Helene  of  Thurn  and  Taxis  joined 
her  and  remained  the  whole  time,  while  the 
Emperor  went  several  times  to  see  her.  After 
a  couple  of  months,  the  good  news  arrived  from 
the  physician  who  had  accompanied  her  that  the 
cure  was  nearly  completed,  and  towards  the 


RETURN  HOME  85 

close  of  October,  the  Empress  left  for  Venice 
where  she  intended  to  hold  her  court  during  the 
winter.  We  have  already  seen  how  she  cap- 
tivated all  hearts  on  the  occasion  of  her  first 
visit  to  the  city,  and  in  spite  of  political  tension, 
which  had  not  diminished  of  late  years,  she  fully 
experienced  all  her  former  pleasure  in  the  love 
and  sympathy  of  the  people.  After  a  stay  in  this 
transition  climate,  she  visited  Ischl  and  Kissingen, 
in  order  to  gain  further  strength. 

A  still  more  festive  reception  was  prepared 
for  her  than  on  her  return  to  Trieste  from 
Madeira,  on  the  occasion  of  her  entry  into  Vienna 
in  1862,  when  the  whole  capital  was  illuminated, 
and  "  God  preserve  the  mother  of  our  country," 
"Welcome  Elizabeth,"  and  similar  greetings 
appeared  at  every  turn.  The  choral  societies 
united  to  do  her  homage,  and  16,000  torches 
waved  before  her,  while  the  burgomaster 
Zelinka,  expressed  the  joy  and  delight  of  the 
Viennese  on  her  return  in  a  fervid  speech,  to 
which  the  Empress  replied  : 

"In  close  harmony  with  my  own  pleasure  in 
being  once  again  in  Vienna  is  my  gratitude  for 
the  magnificent  welcome  prepared  for  me. 
Vienna  and  Austria  are  if  possible,  still  dearer 
to  me  as  I  realise  the  sympathy  which  my 


86  EMPRESS  ELIZABETH 

Imperial  consort  and  I  have  met  with  in  so 
many  touching  forms  from  every  quarter  of  our 
dominions  during  my  protracted  illness.  I  beg 
you  to  express  my  thanks  to  all  who  have  taken 
part  in  this  reception.  I  trust  that  the  happiness 
I  feel  in  being  again  in  your  midst  may  continue 
unalloyed  by  any  cloud." 

The  reception  had  been  nearly  as  jubilant  as 
that  accorded  to  the  Empress  as  a  bride,  the 
sympathy  more  touching. 

Was  there  perhaps  a  presentiment  of  some  evil 
which  induced  her,  when  speaking,  to  express  the 
hope  that  her  stay  in  Vienna  might  not  be  inter- 
rupted, and  that  her  happiness  might  not  be 
clouded  ?  It  is  a  fact  that  her  residence  there  was 
again  but  of  short  duration,  for  unexpectedly, 
without  communicating  her  intention  to  anybody, 
she  left  the  capital  after  a  few  weeks'  stay.  It 
must  have  been  that,  in  spite  of  their  cordial 
meeting,  former  disputes  and  difficulties  had 
again  arisen  between  husband  and  wife.  The 
Emperor  followed  her  to  try  and  bring  about  a 
reconciliation,  but  Elizabeth  pursued  her  journey, 
and  did  her  utmost  to  avoid  him,  so  that,  weary 
and  despondent,  he  had  to  return. 

It  was  just  because  her  theories  about  love 
were  stronger  and  deeper  than  most,  that 


FLIGHT  FROM  VIENNA  87 

Elizabeth  suffered  more  than  the  majority  under 
her  disappointment ;  if  her  feelings  had  not  been 
so  acute,  her  pride  so  intense,  she  would  never 
have  been  so  utterly  crushed.  But  as  an  ad- 
ditional cause  for  her  leaving  home,  we  may 
venture  to  assume  that  she  had  again  encountered 
opposition  from  her  mother-in-law  and  the  Court, 
as  well  as  experienced  deep  pain  on  finding  that 
the  Archduchess  had  utilised  her  absence  to 
estrange  the  children  still  further  from  their 
mother. 

Months  went  by  and  still  she  did  not  return. 
There  was  pity  for  the  Emperor,  but  many  began 
to  take  the  part  of  his  young,  inexperienced  wife, 
and  when  the  Archduchess  Sophie  spoke  dis- 
paragingly of  her  daughter-in-law,  several  were  of 
opinion  that  Elizabeth  might  never  have  gone  if 
her  mother-in-law  had  not  increased  her  difficulties, 
and  plotted  how  to  prejudice  and  annoy  her. 

The  estrangement  between  husband  and  wife 
lasted  for  years,  until  after  repeated  requests 
from  the  Austrian  Court,  as  well  as  from  her 
own  family,  Elizabeth  allowed  herself  to  visit 
Vienna  now  and  again,  though  only  to  return  to 
some  foreign  home,  immediately  after  she  had 
fulfilled  the  most  urgent  representative  duties. 

The  oppression  of  a  Court  was  more  hateful 


EMPRESS  ELIZABETH 

than  ever  to  her,  after  having  experienced  the 
freedom  and  pleasures  of  a  life  of  travel.  She 
had  become  interested  in  foreign  nations,  their 
language,  manners,  and  customs,  and  distant 
journeys  grew  to  be  more  and  more  a  necessity  as 
well  as  an  enjoyment  to  her. 

The  situation  at  last  became  almost  unbearable 
to  the  Emperor,  and  in  addition,  the  health  of  the 
Crown  Prince  gave  cause  for  anxiety.  He  was 
advised  to  make  peace  with  the  mother  of  his 
children,  and  he  at  last  saw  that  he  must  do  so. 

It  was  no  easy  matter  to  move  Elizabeth,  but 
one  of  the  few  people  who  in  any  degree  could 
influence  her  was  her  mother,  for  whom  she  had 
the  highest  respect,  and  on  her  representations,  it 
at  last  became  clear  to  her  that  it  was  an  im- 
perative duty  to  return  to  her  children.  Time, 
too,  had  softened  her  bitter  resentment,  and  a 
feeling  of  loneliness  on  both  sides  created  a  long- 
ing for  some  sort  of  reconciliation,  though  it  is 
probable  that  it  might  still  have  been  delayed,  if 
outward  circumstances  had  not  contributed  their 
influence. 

Austria  was  passing  through  a  serious  crisis, 
and  in  June,  1866,  war  was  declared  by  Italy  and 
Prussia.  The  old  hereditary  enemy  from  the  days 
of  Maria  Theresa  was  again  victorious  in  the 


ELIZABETH  DURING  THE   WAR  OF  1866         89 

States  of  the  Empire,  and  the  Habsburgs  were 
expelled  from  Italy.  These  were  the  events  that 
roused  the  energy  of  the  Empress,  and  the 
singular  wearied  indifference  about  home  affairs 
which  had  hung  over  her  like  a  cloud  the  last  few 
years  gave  way  to  compassion  for  the  Emperor 
and  his  land.  She  returned  home  fully  convinced 
that  her  true  place  was  in  the  midst  of  the  people, 
by  the  side  of  her  husband. 

She  was  still  only  in  the  twenties,  but  her  youth 
was  past ;  she  had  left  home  with  despair  gnaw- 
ing at  her  heart,  but  had  come  back  a  strong- 
minded  woman,  with  fully  developed  powers. 

Her  place  at  Court  had  no  attractions  for  her, 
but  she  devoted  herself  to  unwearied  work  in  the 
hospitals,  where  she  earned  the  name  of  "  the 
Angel  of  the  wounded,"  and  only  once,  at  the 
time  of  Rudolph's  death,  was  her  character  more 
admired  than  at  this  period. 

She  visited  every  military  hospital,  and  inspired 
the  wounded  soldiers  with  fresh  hope  and  courage, 
speaking  to  them  in  their  mother  tongue,  enquir- 
ing about  their  relations  and  personal  circum- 
stances, proving  herself  ever  ready  to  carry  out 
their  wishes,  when  practicable. 

A  soldier  named  Joseph  Feher,  the  son  of  an 
old  blind  gipsy  woman  from  Topic- Szelo,  had  re- 


90  EMPRESS  ELIZABETH 

refused  to  allow  his  arm  to  be  amputated,  but  the 
Empress  entreated  him  so  earnestly  to  submit 
that  he  at  last  consented,  when  she  wrote  to  his 
mother,  sent  her  money,  and  promised  to  have 
her  son  taken  to  the  Imperial  Castle  at  Laxen- 
burg,  as  well  as  provided  for  in  the  future. 

Another  day  she  went  up  to  a  soldier  whose 
head  had  been  so  severely  crushed  that  the 
doctor  had  given  up  all  hope  of  saving  him.  She 
seated  herself  by  his  bedside  and  asked  if  he  had 
any  wishes  that  she  could  carry  out,  to  which  he 
replied  with  failing  breath  : 

"  I  have  had  the  happiness  to  see  my  Empress 
by  my  death-bed,  and  there  is  nothing  else  to 
wish  for  in  this  world  ;  now  I  am  content  to  die." 

It  was  she  who  distributed  the  Imperial  gifts 
to  the  wounded,  when  even  the  weakest  tried  to 
raise  themselves  and  stretch  out  their  hands  to- 
towards  her,  as  she  entered  the  wards,  while  on 
leaving,  it  was  touching  to  hear,  "  God  bless 
Elizabeth  !  "  echoed  with  deep  emotion  from  these 
wounded  men. 


CHAPTER  XI 

ELIZABETH   AND   POLITICS— CORONATION    IN    HUNGARY 

SILENTLY  the  Empress  resumed  her  position  at 
the  Austrian  Court,  and  the  heavy  days  of 
adversity  that  were  at  hand  gradually  taught  her 
husband  the  value  of  her  presence.  The  plans 
of  the  Archduchess  Sophie  had  once  again 
proved  fatal  to  the  house  of  Habsburg,  and  the 
eyes  of  the  Emperor  were  at  length  opened  to 
the  fact  that  her  influence  had  been  baneful  for 
his  realm,  as  well  as  for  his  family  life. 

Elizabeth  became  her  husband's  friend,  and  in 
the  later  years  of  their  married  life,  he  consulted 
her  on  many  points  of  political  importance,  while 
there  is  no  doubt  that  she  would  have  materially 
assisted  him  by  her  advice,  if  he  would  have 
allowed  it. 

But  she  had  no  desire  to  take  any  part  in  politics, 
and  had  in  abhorrence  the  underhand  paths  to 
which  they  lead  so  easily.  On  the  rare  occasions 
in  which  she  came  forward  from  her  voluntary 


92  EMPRESS  ELIZABETH 

retirement,  it  was  always  in  the  cause  of  peace. 
"  I  have  too  little  interest  in  politics  and  consider 
them  of  no  paramount  importance,"  she  used  to 
say.  "  Politicians  think  that  it  is  they  who  guide 
events,  but  on  the  contrary,  they  themselves  be- 
come overwhelmed  by  the  current  of  circum- 
stances. Each  ministry  totters  to  its  fall  from 
the  moment  of  its  creation,  and  all  that  diplomacy 
can  do  is  to  wrest  in  turn  some  advantage  from 
the  other  side.  Whatever  happens  is  of  necessity, 
because  the  time  is  come."* 

But  although  she  did  not  care  to  guide  the 
threads  of  policy,  on  the  other  hand  she  kept 
herself  perfectly  informed  of  all  that  was  going 
on. 

It  is  characteristic  that  she  read  with  the 
keenest  interest  pamphlets  that  blamed  the 
Emperor's  policy,  and  also  expressed  her  ad- 
miration for  books  the  sale  of  which  was  pro- 
hibited all  over  the  Empire,  f 

But  when  one  political  subject  was  under 
discussion,  she  frequently  threw  her  influence  into 
the  scale,  and  this  was  the  weal  or  woe  of 

*  The  above  and  several  following  remarks  made  by  the 
Empress  are  taken  from  the  diary  of  her  Greek  teacher,  Dr. 
Chnstoinanos. 

t  Among  these  may  be  cited:  "  Der  Zerfall  Oesterreichs,"  and 
Horvath's  :  "Uhgarns  Unabhangigkeitskrieg. " 


ELIZABETH  AND  POLITICS  93 

Hungary,  to  which  she  felt  herself  so  deeply  at- 
tached. 

It  was  counted  as  one  of  her  virtues  in  Austria, 
that  she  so  rarely  identified  herself  with  politics, 
while  the  Hungarians  appreciated  the  efforts  of 
their  Queen  to  speak  forcibly  when  their  affairs 
were  under  consideration. 

With  reference  to  the  sanguinary  events  in 
Hungary,  1849,  she  observed  to  the  historian 
Michael  Horvath,  to  whom  she  granted  an 
audience  immediately  after  his  return  from  his 
exile  of  many  years  : 

"  Believe  me  !  If  it  were  in  the  power  of  my 
husband  and  myself,  we  would  be  the  first  to  re- 
call to  life  all  those  who  were  condemned  and 
killed  at  that  unhappy  time." 

When  Austria,  in  consequence  of  the  events  of 
1866,  was  on  the  point  of  losing  Italy,  she  ob- 
served to  Count  Julius  Andrassy  : 

"  When  things  are  not  straight  with  Italy,  I  am 
sorry,  but  if  misfortune  were  to  happen  in 
Hungary,  it  would  kill  me." 

Wherever  she  might  be  she  felt  herself  Queen 
of  Hungary,  and  during  a  summer  residence  at 
the  watering-place  Gastein  in  Salzburg,  she  and  a 
lady-in-waiting  made  an  excursion  to  a  hill  in  the 
neighbourhood,  on  the  summit  of  which  is  a 


94  EMPRESS  ELIZABETH 

hut,  into  which  they  entered  and  found  lying 
on  a  table  a  visitor's  book.  The  lady  wrote 
"Elizabeth,  Empress  of  Austria,  "but  when  her 
Majesty  had  seen  it,  she  took  the  pen  and  wrote 
underneath  :  "  Erzsebet,  Magyar  Kyralyno  " 
(Elizabeth,  Hungarian  Queen). 

This  mutual  attachment  between  the  Queen  and 
the  Hungarians  proved  a  real  support  to  the  throne. 

During  the  war  of  1866  the  Prussians  threatened 
to  march  on  Vienna,  when  it  was  decided  that 
Elizabeth  and  the  little  Crown  Prince  would  find 
their  surest  place  of  refuge  in  Buda-Pesth.  They 
went  and  were  met  at  the  frontier  by  Franz  Deak, 
Andrassy,  and  other  eminent  men,  who  assured 
the  Queen  of  the  courteous  protection  of  the 
Hungarians.  The  capital  welcomed  her  with 
cheers,  and  the  scene  was  near  becoming  a 
repetition  of  the  historical  Maria  Theresa  episode. 

It  is  an  undoubted  fact  that  the  devotion  of  the 
people  to  their  Queen  was  a  very  strong  factor  in 
furthering  the  reconciliation  between  Austria  and 
Hungary,  brought  about  by  the  efforts  of  Count 
Beust  in  1867. 

There  is  no  documentary  evidence  to  prove 
that  her  influence  helped  to  smooth  differences, 
but  the  Hungarians  were  fully  appreciative  of 
her  kindly  interference. 


ELIZABETH  AND  POLITICS  95 

Rumours  of  the  long  continued  misunderstand- 
ing between  the  Emperor  and  his  consort  had 
reached  their  ears,  and  on  the  occasion  of  his 
visit  to  Buda-Pesth  in  1865,  Franz  Deak  said  to 
the  King :  "  As  peace  and  goodwill  are  to  reign 
in  your  States,  may  your  Majesty  seek  and  obtain 
reconciliation  in  the  midst  of  your  own 
family." 

The  following  day  Francis  Joseph  sent  a 
telegram  to  the  Empress  to  announce  the  hearty 
welcome  he  had  received  at  Buda-Pesth,  and  it 
was  an  additional  attention  to  his  wife  that  the 
Diet,  which  recognised  the  new  relation  between 
his  two  States,  was  summoned  for  St.  Elizabeth's 
Day,  November  i4th,  1865.  The  enthusiasm 
of  the  people  knew  no  bounds,  especially  when 
Elizabeth  with  her  own  hands  repaired  the  cloak  * 
of  St.  Stephen  f  and  embroidered  the  colours  for 
the  first  militia  battalions. 

Even  her  enemies   have   recognised    that  she 

*  "  In  the  .library  of  the  Benedictine  Abbey  of  St.  Martinsberg, 
on  a  spur  of  the  Bakonyer  Wald,  is  preserved  the  cloak  of  St. 
Stephen  (died  1028).  It  is  made  of  a  material  resembling  crape, 
adorned  with  drawings  and  bearing  a  long  Latin  inscription." 

Baedeker. 

t"St.  Stephen,  Duke  of  Hungary,  established  the  Roman 
Catholic  religion  and  received  from  the  Pope  the  title  of  Apostolic 
King,  still  borne  by  the  Emperor  of  Austria  as  King  of  Hungary." 

Haydn's  Dictionary  of  Dates. 


96  EMPRESS  ELtZABETIf 

was  perfectly  free  from  coquetry,  although  she 
exercised  an  involuntary  charm  on  every  man 
with  whom  she  came  in  contact,^  and  it  was  but 
natural  that  she  should  feel  proud  of  the  admiring 
devotion  accorded  to  her  by  the  magnates  of 
Hungary,  the  descendants  of  the  eminent  men 
who  had  befriended  their  Queen  Maria 
Theresa. 

Francis  Joseph  had  not  been  crowned  in 
Hungary,  and  as  the  people  desired  that  the 
ceremony  should  take  place,  their  wish  was 
fulfilled  in  the  summer  of  1867.*  It  was  the 
first  time  in  their  history  that  a  Queen  had  been 
crowned  with  a  King,  and  the  expression  of  their 
desire  that  this  should  be  the  case  was  a  signal 
proof  of  their  respect  and  devotion  for  the 
Empress. 

A  deputation  had  been  sent  to  Vienna  many 
months  previously  to  treat  with  the  Emperor  on 
the  subject,  and  from  him  they  went  immediately 
to  Elizabeth  to  beg  her  to  allow  her  Hungarian 
subjects  to  do  homage  to  their  Queen  in  the 
same  manner. 

"  I  will  joyfully  fulfil  the  wish  expressed  by  the 

*  "The  coronation  at  Buda  may  be  looked  upon  as  an  event  of 
European  importance.  It  implies  a  reconciliation  not  only  of 
Magyars  with  the  Empire,  but  of  all  Hungary  with  all  Austria, 
of  all  Austria  with  all  Germany." — Times. 


CORONA  TION  IN  HUNGAR  Y  97 

people,"  she  replied.  "  It  coincides  with  the  desire 
of  my  own  heart,  and  I  thank  God  who  has  per- 
mitted me  to  live  to  see  this  auspicious  moment. 
Convey  my  hearty  thanks  and  greetings  to  your 
people." 

Presburg  had  been  the  old  coronation  city  of 
Hungary,  but  since  1848  Buda-Pesth  had  been 
chosen  as  the  seat  of  the  Diet,  and  was  now  for 
the  first  time  to  witness  a  coronation  within  its 
own  walls. 

The  situation  is  one  of  the  most  beautiful  in 
Europe,  and  the  fortress,  with  the  handsome 
royal  castle  stands  on  the  summit  of  a  lofty  hill, 
around  which  the  city  of  Buda  is  built.  On  the 
left  side  of  the  Danube  is  the  perfectly  flat  city 
of  Pesth,  beyond  which  are  interminable  stretches 
of  heathland.  Both  cities  were  in  holiday  garb 
on  the  arrival  of  the  royal  pair,  when  weapons, 
symbols,  pictures,  flags  and  streamers  were  to  be 
seen,  wherever  the  eye  rested,  and  the  tower  of 
the  Town  Hall  of  Pesth  was  surmounted  by  a 
gigantic  St.  Stephen's  crown. 

The  ceremony  was  to  take  place  in  the 
Cathedral,  which  had  been  decorated  for  the 
occasion  in  a  truly  princely  style,  which  the  King 
and  Queen  inspected  the  previous  evening,  and 
during  their  drive,  the  people  who  had  assembled 

7 


98  EMPRESS  ELIZABETH 

in  crowds,  cheered  them  with  enthusiasm  which 
seemed  to  know  no  end. 

As  they  were  leaving  the  Cathedral,  an  old 
man  fell  down  from  some  steps  on  to  which  he 
had  climbed  in  order,  for  once  in  his  life,  to  catch 
a  glimpse  of  the  "Good  Queen  of  Hungary,"  for 
which  he  had  travelled  from  a  remote  corner  of 
the  country.  Elizabeth  saw  him  fall,  hastened  to 
him,  raised  him,  and  enquired  with  solicitude  if 
he  was  much  hurt.  When  it  became  known  that 
she  had  personally  helped  the  old  man  the  shouts 
rose  to  a  perfect  storm  of : 

"Eljen  Erzsebet!" 

The  city  and  environs  were  thronged  with 
Magyars  from  the  extensive  Bakonyer  Forest, 
Swabians  from  the  mountainous  districts  to  the 
west,  Slovaks  from  northern  Hungary,  south- 
east of  Moravia,  Servians  and  Croats  from  the 
southern  provinces,  and  Germans  from  Tran- 
sylvania. 60,000  soldiers  lined  the  streets  from 
the  railway  station  to  the  royal  Castle,  a  distance 
of  six  kilometers  (about  3f  miles). 

The  coronation  took  place  June  8th,  1867,  and 
presented  a  scene  of  Oriental  splendour,  which 
was  alluded  to  by  the  statesmen  and  journalists 
who  had  arrived  from  England,  France  and 
America,  as  the  most  picturesque  and  magnificent 


CORONA  TION  IN  HUNGAR  Y  99 

sight  that  had  been  witnessed  in  any  country  for 
ages. 

The  effect  was  striking  when  the  King  and 
Queen  with  their  suite  reached  the  suspension 
bridge  from  the  Castle  at  Buda  and  proceeded  to 
cross  the  Danube.  Francis  Joseph,  wearing  his 
coronation  mantle  and  crown,  rode  a  magnificent 
grey  horse,  and  had  perhaps  never  looked  more 
stately  and  commanding.  But  the  impression 
made  by  the  majestic,  beautiful  appearance  of 
Elizabeth  is  still  less  likely  ever  to  be  forgotten. 
All  eyes  were  directed  towards  her  as  she  ap- 
proached in  the  grand  old  coronation  coach  drawn 
by  eight  Spanish  greys  whose  flowing  manes  and 
tails  were  plaited  with  a  gold  cord. 

The  coach  was  gilt  and  a  huge  crown  rested 

*  "We  almost  see  the  pale  and  careworn  look  of  the  Imperial 
and  Royal  candidate,  as  faint  with  his  "  thirty  hours'  fast,"  he 
kneels  at  Mass  in  the  old  parish  Church  of  Buda  ;  we  almost  feel 
the  "three  to  four  pounds'  weight"  of  the  holy  and  precious 
diadem  which  must  press  his  brow  during  the  whole  of  a  ten  hours' 
solemnity  ;  we  interpret  the  deep  colour  mantling  the  lovely 
countenance  of  the  Empress,  as  her  neck  and  shoulder  are  bared 
to  allow  of  her  being  anointed,  not  on  the  forehead,  like  the  King, 
but  according  to  inexorable  prescription,  "under  the  right  arm- 
pit ; ''  and  we  hear  the  roar  of  the  ordinance,  the  peal  of  the  bells, 
the  clatter  of  the  splendid  cavalcade,  in  which  one  of  the  magnates 
is  to  appear  in  a  complete  suit  of  solid  silver  plate  armour  ;  another 
is  to  wear  jewelry  on  his  coat  to  the  amount  of  ,£6,500,  while  the 
mere  caparisons  on  the  charger  of  a  third  are  valued  at  ,£8,000." 

Times. 


ioo  EMPRESS  ELIZABETH 

on  the  dome-shaped  roof,  while  the  immense 
plate  glass  windows  made  it  easy  to  catch  sight 
of  her  Majesty  on  all  sides.  She  was  still  only 
in  her  thirtieth  year,  and  was  considered  the 
loveliest  princess  in  the  whole  civilised  world. 

Cheers  and  deafening  shouts  of  "  Hail ! " 
greeted  her  the  whole  distance,  the  cannon 
thundered,  and  young  girls  in  white  strewed 
flowers  before  her.  She  responded  to  the  vivas 
with  hearty  greetings,  with  the  friendly  kindling 
of  her  deep  sapphire  blue  eyes,  and  with  the 
winsome  smile  which  at  that  time  was  renowned 
all  over  Europe. 

The  Queen's  coach  was  followed  by  an  escort 
of  200  of  the  youngest  and  most  aristocratic 
among  the  magnates  of  Hungary,  wearing 
gorgeous  uniforms,  brilliant  with  gold  embroidery 
and  precious  stones,  and  a  tiger  skin  thrown  over 
the  left  shoulder. 

The  King  and  his  suite  had  already  taken  their 
places  when  the  Queen  entered  the  Cathedral, 
wearing  a  robe  of  white  silk  brocade  with  a  black 
velvet  bodice  sparkling  with  brilliants,  and  a 
Hungarian  diamond  ornament  round  her  neck. 
Her  coronation  mantle  was  of  black  velvet  lined 
with  white  satin,  and  she  wore  the  coronet  of 
the  Habsburgs,  originally  provided  for  Maria 


CORONA  TION  IN  HUNGAR  V  i  o  i 

Theresa,    valued    at    three    million    gulden,    and 
literally  one  mass  of  pearls  and  diamonds. 

During  the  coronation  of  the  King,  she  sat 
with  folded  hands,  evidently  in  deep  meditation, 
and  as  soon  as  the  ceremony  was  ended,  the 
Steward  of  the  Household  removed  the  coronet 
from  her  head,  while  the  King  called  upon  the 
Primate  of  Hungary  to  crown  the  Queen,  and 
then  returned  to  his  throne.  Elizabeth  knelt  on 
the  lowest  step  before  the  high  altar,  and  kissed 
the  cross  that  was  presented  to  her,  during  which 
the  Prime  Minister  had  removed  St.  Stephen's 
Crown  from  the  King's  head,  and  placed  it  upon 
the  altar. 

The  Queen  was  anointed  on  her  arm  and 
shoulder,  and  then  conducted  by  the  Steward  of 
the  Household,  the  Bishops  and  the  ladies  of 
her  suite  into  the  sacristy  to  remove  all  traces  of 
the  anointing  oil. 

The  Primate  of  Hungary  awaited  her  at  the 
altar,  when  she  again  knelt  before  him,  and  he 
replaced  the  coronet  on  her  head,  while  the 
Prime  Minister  lifted  the  heavy  Hungarian  regal 
crown  from  the  altar  and  handed  it  to  the  Primate, 
who  placed  it  on  the  Queen's  shoulder  and  held 
it  while  he  recited  a  prayer  ;  after  which  he 
removed  it  and  returned  it  to  the  Prime  Minister, 


162  EMPRESS  ELIZABETH 

who,  with  the  assistance  of  the  Steward  of  the 
Household,  finally  placed  it  on  the  head  of  the 
King.  Meanwhile  the  Primate  gave  the  sceptre 
into  the  right,  and  the  orb  into  the  left  hand  of  the 
Queen,  and  conducted  her  back  to  the  throne, 
where  she  resumed  her  place  by  the  side  of  his 
Majesty.  It  was  at  this  moment  that  the  first 
strains  of  the  Te  Deum  burst  forth  from  the 
vast  multitude  and  rolled  in  majestic  solemnity 
through  the  vaults  of  the  old  Cathedral,  the 
cannon  thundered  forth  again,  and  every  bell  of 
Hungary  sent  forth  a  joyous  peal.  Medals  were 
struck  to  commemorate  the  event,  with  a  likeness 
of  Francis  Joseph  on  one  side  and  of  Elizabeth 
on  the  other,  with  the  words  round  her  portrait : 
"  May  the  star  of  happiness  ever  shine  over  her." 
According  to  ancient  Hungarian  usage,  the 
King  and  Queen  received  a  coronation  gift  of 
50,000  ducats,  which  were  placed  in  two  caskets 
of  valuable  wrought  silver.  Francis  Joseph's 
was  embossed  with  figures  representing  the  most 
renowned  Hungarian  kings  of  all  ages.  The 
Queen's  was  of  the  same  size  and  form,  but 
decorated  with  silver  statuettes  of  St.  Elizabeth, 
and  the  Queens  Adelaide,  Marie,  and  Maria 
Theresa.  Two  angels  on  the  lid  held  a  regal 
crown. 


CORONA  T1ON  IN  HUNGAR  Y  1 03 

The  royal  pair  presented  their  gift  to  found  an 
institution  for  the  widows  and  children  of  those 
who  had  fallen  in  1848-9  while  fighting  against 
Francis  Joseph,  and  the  perfect  reconciliation  that 
existed  between  the  people  and  their  ruler  is 
proved  by  the  circumstance  that  Julius  Andrassy, 
who  had  been  sentenced  to  death  as  a  rebel  in 
1849,  was  the  present  Prime  Minister  with  the 
title  of  Count.  As  Elizabeth  was  leaving  Buda- 
Pesth  after  the  coronation,  she  remarked  to  one 
of  the  Hungarian  gentleman  of  her  suite  : 

"  I  am  already  looking  forward  to  the  time 
when  I  can  come  to  stay  with  you  again." 

The  saying  was  repeated,  and  rapidly  spread 
among  the  people,  to  the  still  further  increase  of 
her  popularity. 

The  solemnities  in  connection  with  the 
coronation,  the  magnificent  festivities  and  the 
extraordinary  enthusiasm  and  devotion  which 
accompanied  her  every  step  in  Hungary,  made 
such  a  deep  impression  upon  the  Empress  that 
even  in  after  life  she  could  never  speak  of  those 
days  without  emotion,  and  always  cherished  the 
memory  of  them  among  the  brightest  of  her 
whole  life. 


CHAPTER  XII 

THE   EMPRESS  AS   MOTHER— THE   ARCHDUCHESS   MARIE   VALERIE 

THE  years  that  immediately  followed  the 
coronation  were  undoubtedly  among  the  hap- 
piest in  the  life  of  the  Empress  Elizabeth.  She 
watched  with  carefulness  over  every  detail  that 
affected  her  children,  became  kind  and  con- 
siderate towards  the  members  of  her  Court,  as 
well  as  the  servants  of  the  household,  friendly 
towards  the  people,  and  above  all  full  of  interest 
and  sympathy  in  the  troubles  and  anxieties  of  her 
husband. 

Her  position  was  radically  changed,  and  life 
was  easier  to  bear,  not  only  because  she  herself 
had  matured  and  was  no  longer  a  girl,  but  also 
because  the  power  of  the  Archduchess  Sophie 
was  crushed. 

Contrary  to  the  wishes  of  Francis  Joseph,  and 
influenced  mainly  by  his  ambitious  consort,  the 
Emperor's  brother  Maximilian,  Archduke  of 


THE  ARCHDUCHESS  MARIE  VALERIE          16$ 

Austria,  accepted  the  unstable  crown  of  Mexico 
in  1864,  to  be  sentenced  and  shot  at  Queretaro  by 
his  own  subjects  June  iQth,  1867.  His  wife  lost 
her  reason,  and  the  tragic  event  acted  painfully 
on  the  physical  and  mental  health  of  his  mother.* 
It  therefore  became  Elizabeth's  sad  duty  to 
comfort  her  husband  in  his  sorrow  at  his  brother's 
fate,  as  well  as  to  support  and  help  her  imbecile 
mother-in-law  and  her  sister-in-law,  who  had 
irrecoverably  sunk  into  the  gloom  of  complete 
madness,  f 

The  year  following  the  coronation  in  Hungary, 
and  ten  years  after  the  birth  of  the  Crown  Prince, 
a  little  girl  was  born,  the  Archduchess  Marie 

*  She  died  May  28th,  1872. 

t "  Seiior  Porfirio  Diaz,  the  President  of  the  Mexican  Republic,  has 
invited  Prince  Khevenhiiller-Metsch,  with  whom  he  is  acquainted, 
and  who  served  under  the  Emperor  Maximilian  in  Mexico,  to 
attend  the  opening  of  a  memorial  chapel,  erected  by  the  munificence 
of  an  Austrian  subject  in  that  Republic  at  the  spot  at  Queretaro, 
where  the  Emperor  was  shot  on  June  19,  1867.  The  Prince,  who 
is  a  Privy  Councillor,  had  to  obtain  permission  from  the  Emperor 
Francis  Joseph  to  accept  the  invitation.  His  Majesty  has  not 
only  accorded  it,  but  is  sending  through  Prince  Khevenhuller  an 
altar  picture  for  the  chapel. 

Relations  between  Mexico  and  Austria  were  naturally  suspended 
after  the  tragedy  of  Queretaro,  but  the  first  step  towards  reconcilia- 
tion has  now  been  made.  Most  probably  the  initiative  came  from 
the  Mexican  side,  and  I  should  not  be  surprised  were  it  to  lead  to 
a  resumption  of  diplomatic  relations.  The  Prince  will  be  accom- 
panied by  his  nephew,  Prince  Charles  Eugen  of  Furstenber^." 
— Standard,  Feb.> 


106  EMPRESS  ELIZABETH 

Valerie,  in  the  royal  castle  at  Buda,  April  22nd, 
1868. 

The  joyful  event  was  announced  to  the  popu- 
lace by  the  firing  of  cannon  from  every  fortress  at 
six  o'clock  in  the  morning.  It  was  the  first  time 
for  a  century  that  a  royal  child  had  been  born  in 
Hungary,  and  the  delight  of  the  Magyars  was 
unbounded.  As  night  approached,  the  whole 
city  was  illuminated,  and  crowds  filled  the  streets, 
hundreds  of  them  on  their  way  to  the  castle  to 
send  up  a  ceaseless  cheer  and  "  eljen "  for  the 
King,  for  the  new-born  Princess,  but  especially 
for  the  Queen. 

Valerie  was  the  youngest  and  most  cherished 
of  Elizabeth's  children,  not  that  she  did  not  love 
Gisela  and  Rudolph,  but  her  mother-in-law,  aided 
by  governesses  and  tutors,  had  alienated  them 
from  her,  and  she  had  not  been  serious  enough  in 
her  efforts  to  have  them  with  her.  Her  maternal 
devotion  had  been  lacking  in  the  firmness  and 
quiet  self-sacrifice  that  would  have  commanded 
respect  for  her  rights  as  a  mother,  and  this  had 
led  her  to  relinquish  all,  and  forsake  her  children. 

But  this  time  her  motherly  love  was  there  in 
all  its  intensity,  and  the  recollection  of  past  sorrow 
was  obliterated  by  the  unspeakable  tenderness 
she  felt  for  the  fragile  little  being  that  nestled  in 


id; 

her  arms,  and  from  the  moment  of  the  child's 
birth  she  resolved  to  superintend  her  bringing  up 
and  development  herself. 

The  Hungarian  author,  Maurus  Jokai  relates 
the  following  incident  :— 

"In  1869  the  Queen  most  kindly  allowed  me 
to  dedicate  one  of  my  novels  to  her,  and  as  the 
Royal  Court  was  at  that  time  in  Buda,  I  was  able 
to  present  a  copy  to  her  in  person,  and  to  enjoy  a 
long  detailed  conversation  on  the  literature  of 
Hungary.  As  I  was  on  the  point  of  leaving,  she 
said :  '  Wait  a  moment !  I  will  show  you  my 
daughter. ' 

She  opened  a  side  door  and  signed  to  a  nurse, 
who  brought  the  child  into  the  room.  The  Queen 
took  the  little  one  in  her  arms  and  pressed  her 
to  her  heart ;  I  shall  never  forget  the  pretty 
sight." 

Marie  Valerie  was  very  delicate  as  a  child,  and 
her  mother  was  the  first  by  her  bedside  in  the 
morning,  even  after  listening  at  the  door  more 
than  once  in  the  night  to  ascertain  if  she  was 
asleep  ;  and  if  the  little  one  was  ill  her  mother 
refused  to  leave  her,  and  could  with  difficulty  be 
persuaded  to  take  needful  rest." 

She  recognised  with  contrition  that  in  conse- 
quence of  the  disagreement  with  her  husband,  she 


to8  EMPRESS  ELIZABETH 

had  neglected  her  children,  and  she  was  resolved 
to  atone  for  her  mistake  as  far  as  possible.  She 
never  entirely  gained  the  affection  of  her  elder 
daughter  Gisela,  and  the  early  marriage  of  the 
Archduchess  kept  mother  and  daughter  still 
further  apart. 

Then  Rudolph  had  been  absent  from  her  so 
long  that  it  was  an  effort  for  him  to  conquer  his 
shyness  and  embarrassment  in  the  presence  of  his 
mother,  though  by  degrees  he  overcame  his 
reserve  and  grew  exceedingly  fond  of  her. 

The  Crown  Prince  was  an  attractive  child,  and 
by  the  time  he  was  ten  years  old,  he  was  already 
the  darling  of  the  Court  and  the  Viennese.  But, 
under  his  grandmother's  influence,  he  had  de- 
veloped obstinacy,  vanity,  and  pride,  faults  that 
were  a  source  of  great  grief  to  his  mother,  who 
strenuously  set  herself  to  eradicate  these  conse- 
quences of  the  obsequiousness  and  servile  flattery 
with  which  his  surroundings  had  gratified  his 
caprices  ;  and  as  he  was  warm-hearted  and  frankly 
acknowledged  his  failings,  she  was  encouraged  in 
her  efforts.  Whenever  it  was  possible,  she  was 
present  during  the  children's  lessons,  and  if  she 
was  hindered  from  attending,  she  asked  the 
teachers  and  their  pupils  to  explain  to  her 
what  she  had  missed.  She  repeatedly  urged  upon 


THE  ARCHDUCHESS  MARIE  VALERIE          109 

all  who  were  concerned  in  the  education  of  her 
children  not  to  allow  them  to  be  spoilt,  while  she 
herself  was  careful  that  all  their  instructions  were 
carried  out ;  she  never  failed  to  express  her  ap- 
preciation of  the  teachers'  work,  and  to  encourage 
her  children  to  become  attached  to  them. 

She  taught  her  daughters  to  dance,  and  the 
first  real  figure  that  little  Valerie  learnt  was  a 
Hungarian  "czardas."  In  fact,  she  took  pains  to 
instil  in  both  Rudolph  and  Valerie  her  own 
ardent  feelings  for  Hungary,  and  it  is  significant 
that  she  remarked  to  one  of  their  teachers  : 

"  Make  my  children  as  little  German  as 
possible ! " 

On  Easter  Sunday,  1872,  she  sent  for  Bishop 
Ronay,  in  order  to  consult  with  him  about  the 
education  of  Marie  Valerie,  and  among  other  re- 
marks, she  said  : 

"I  do  not  wish  to  entrust  my  child  to  the  care 
of  many.  I  want  her  to  have  but  one  teacher, 
but  that  one  I  should  prefer  to  \>e  you.  Later  on, 
she  shall  have  German,  English  and  French, 
ladies  about  her,  but  you  alone  must  undertake 
her  education.  Let  us  fix  upon  the  Hungarian 
language  as  the  medium  of  instruction,  especially 
for  religious  knowledge.  I  pray  with  my  children 
each  day  in  Hungarian,  and  you  need  not  teach 


HO  EMPRESS  ELIZABETH 

them  to  be  orthodox,  but  rather  to  be  religious  ; 
we  all  need  the  comfort  of  faith  in  our  daily 
lives." 

Christmas  Eve  was  the  first  of  festivals  in  the 
Imperial  family,  being  the  birthday  of  the 
Empress,  as  well  as  the  beginning  of  a  sacred 
season. 

Two  Christmas  trees  were  placed  in  Elizabeth's 
own  drawing-room,  and  the  smaller  one  for  the 
children,  was  decorated  entirely  by  her  own 
hands.  It  entailed  severe  mental  strain  to  find 
suitable  gifts  for  her  husband  and  children,  as 
well  as  for  the  Imperial  household,  for  she  always 
tried  to  gratify  the  special  wishes  of  those  about 
her. 

One  day  shortly  before  Christmas,  Marie 
Valerie  went  to  her  mother  with  a  pleading  look, 
and  begged  that  a  party  of  poor  children  might 
have  a  Christmas  tree  at  the  Castle,  and  that  it 
should  be  her  parents'  present  to  herself.  The 
Empress  was  much  touched  by  her  request,  and 
from  that  day  for  many  years,  she  always  dressed 
an  extra  tree  with  gifts  for  poor  little  ones. 

Elizabeth  was  devoted  to  flowers,  and  never 
returned  empty-handed  from  a  country  walk  ;  even 
when  riding,  she  would  alight  to  gather  field 
flowers,  which  she  fastened  to  the  pommel  of  her 


THE  ARCHDUCHESS  MARIE  VALERIE          in 

saddle.  She  inspected  the  freshly  filled  vases  in 
her  rooms  every  day,  selected  the  loveliest  and 
placed  them  on  the  Emperor's  bureau  in  his 
private  room. 

"  Mutzerl,"  as  Marie  Valerie  was  called,  had 
inherited  her  mother's  love  of  flowers,  and  as  soon 
as  she  could  toddle,  she  had  her  own  little  garden 
in  the  grounds  of  the  different  castles  visited  by 
the  Imperial  Court,  and  when  mother  and  daughter 
were  absent  from  each  other,  they  exchanged 
flowers  .gathered  during  their  several  excursions. 

These  two  were  closely  united  by  ties  of  heart 
and  mind,  and  they  were  rarely  apart  in  Vienna, 
in  Buda-Pesth,  or  when  travelling.  "Valerie  is 
more  than  a  daughter  to  me,"  her  mother  said, 
"she  is  my  intimate  friend." 

The  Empress  could  not  be  called  old,  though 
suffering  had  made  her  feel  older  than  her  years, 
but  as  Valerie  grew  up,  she  imparted  to  her 
mother  some  of  her  own  spring  feelings,  and  this 
youngest  child  became  the  sunshine  of  her  later 
life,  by  her  goodness  of  heart  and  unceasing 
devotion,  in  addition  to  extreme  simplicity  and 
absence  of  all  exactingness  and  pretension. 

Elizabeth  believed  firmly  in  active  exercise  to 
maintain  health  and  strength,  and  she  wished  to 
see  her  daughter  as  ardent  a  horsewoman  as  her- 


112  EMPRESS  ELIZABETH 

self.  But  Valerie  had  not  wholly  inherited  her 
mother's  devotion  to  Nature,  and  found  it  im- 
possible to  share  her  enthusiasm  for  long  ex- 
cursions on  foot,  or  for  violent  rides. 

But,  on  the  other  hand,  she  possessed  the  innate 
love  of  the  Wittelsbachs  for  literature  and  art ; 
as  a  child  she  wrote  pretty  poetry,  and  when 
older,  her  delight  was  to  study  the  chief  authors 
of  each  age. 

Her  mother  had  not  forgotten  the  pin-pricks 
which  wounded  the  Empress  of  seventeen  on 
account  of  her  faulty  education,  but  she  had 
long  since  made  good  many  deficiencies,  and  was 
ready  to  join  her  daughter  in  the  study  of 
languages  and  literature.  She  would  sit  for 
hours  engrossed  in  Greek  or  Latin  writers,  and 
as  her  memory  was  remarkable,  she  had  no 
difficulty  in  learning  choice  passages  by  heart. 
It  was  she  alone  who  gave  the  final  decision  upon 
Valerie's  poetical  efforts,  which  fill  many  thick 
volumes,  and  from  whom  nothing  was  a  secret 
that  touched  upon  her  daughter's  inner  life,  and 
one  word  of  praise  from  the  Empress  was  of  un- 
told value  to  the  youthful  writer. 

Valerie's  devotion  to  her  mother  found  warm 
expression  in  many  of  her  poems.  Over  Francis 
Joseph's  bed  in  the  hunting-lodge  of  Miirzsteg  is 


THE  ARCHDUCHESS  MARIE  VALERIE          iij 

a  poem  written  in  her  fifteenth  year,  in  which  she 
describes  Elizabeth's  early  home,  her  birth  on 
Christmas  Eve,  and  her  parent's  happy  marriage. 
She  sings  of  her  mother  : 

"  Und  wenn  auf  des  Kaisers  Haupte, 
Manchmal  driickt  die  Kron, 
1st  fur  seine  Miih'  und  Sorgen, 
Sie  der  schonste  Lohn." 

(When  the  crown  lies  hard  and  heavy 
Upon  the  Emperor's  brow, 
He  finds  for  his  care  a  requital  rare 
In  her  smile's  irradiant  glow.) 

It  is  probable  that  she  afterwards  discovered 
that  the  rapturous  idyll  which  she  had  sung  had 
vanished  as  a  dream,  and  that  the  union  of  the 
Imperial  pair  had  been  far  less  ideal  than  she  had 
depicted  it.  She  loved  both  her  parents,  but  as 
years  passed  on,  she  became  more  and  more 
devoted  to  the  Empress:  it  seemed  as  though  she 
longed  to  give  her  some  recompense  for  the  lonely 
life  she  had  led,  and  to  bestow  upon  her  some 
of  the  tenderness  she  had  missed. 


CHAPTER  XIII 

THE   EMPRESS   AS  A   HORSEWOMAN 

A  FEW  years  after  their  marriage,  the  Emperor 
and  Empress  paid  a  visit  to  an  exhibition  of 
pictures  in  Vienna,  where  they  wished  to  make 
some  purchases,  but  the  Emperor  left  the  choice 
of  the  pictures  to  his  wife,  who  returned  to  the 
gallery  in  a  few  days'  time  in  order  to  execute  the 
commission,  when  she  selected  twenty-four  paint- 
ings, all  representing  different  breeds  of  horses  in 
a  variety  of  attitudes. 

The  Imperial  stables  in  the  Hofburg  and 
Schdnbruun  were  a  source  of  the  greatest  pleasure 
to  the  Empress,  who  spent  most  of  her  morning 
hours  in  the  Riding  School,  galopping  round  on 
different  horses  in  turn,  and  in  the  after  part  of  the 
day,  she  rode  in  the  private  grounds  of  the 
park. 

Her  especial  delight  was  in  violent  exercise, 
mountain-climbing,  fencing  and  hunting,  and 


THE  EMPRESS  AS  A  HORSEWOMAN          11$ 

although  she  was  quite  twenty  before  she  learnt 
to  ride  thoroughly,  she  became  one  of  the  most 
courageous  and  renowned  horsewomen  in  Europe. 
Disregarding  the  rules  of  etiquette,  she  was  on 
friendly  terms  with  all  the  famous  riders  of  the 
different  circuses  that  frequented  Vienna,  and  if 
she  had  not  been  Empress,  she  would  certainly 
have  become  the  first  of  professional  riders,  and 
the  most  renowned  of  teachers.  Those  competent 
to  give  an  opinion  have  said  that  she  possessed 
an  exceptional  power  of  keeping  herself  in  direct, 
almost  magnetic  connection  with  her  horse.  Her 
delicate  womanly  hand  guided  with  astonishing 
accuracy  the  most  unmanageable  animals,  and  on 
many  alarming  occasions  she  never  lost  her 
control,  while  the  most  vicious  submitted  with 
satisfaction  to  her  caress. 

She  either  did  not  understand  fatigue,  or  would 
not  betray  that  she  felt  it,  even  in  her  later  years 
the  strain  of  constant  travelling  never  seemed  to 
affect  her,  and  in  her  youth  her  contempt  for 
danger,  her  endurance  of  physical  exertion  aroused 
both  astonishment  and  admiration.  She  took  the 
highest  gate  without  a  sign  of  fear,  and  in  the 
hunting-field  frequently  surmounted  obstacles  that 
deterred  experienced  men,  besides  terrifying  the 
director  of  the  Riding  School  in  Vienna,  by 


Il6  EMPRESS  ELIZABETH 

commanding  him  to  send  her  the  most  restive 
animals  in  his  stable. 

She  had  several  serious  falls,  but  they  were 
powerless  to  quench  her  passion  for  riding. 

In  the  neighbourhood  of  the  Imperial  hunting- 
lodge  at  Miirzteg,  a  path  leads  through  the  wood 
over  a  waterfall,  which  at  one  time  could  only  be 
crossed  by  means  of  a  narrow  wooden  bridge. 
Early  in  the  eighties,  Elizabeth  was  on  the  point 
of  riding  over  the  bridge,  when  she  discovered 
that  it  was  rotten  and  giving  way  under  the  horse's 
feet ;  but  the  courageous  rider  did  not  lose  her 
self-possession,  and  thanks  to  her  calm,  and  the 
timely  assistance  of  some  wood-cutters,  who 
hastened  to  the  rescue,  her  life  was  spared.  In 
memory  of  her  deliverance,  a  figure  of  St.  George, 
the  patron  of  riders,  has  been  sculptured  on  an 
adjoining  rock,  with  the  following  lines  by  Marie 
Valerie : 


"  Heiliger  Georg  !  Reitersmann, 
Der  vor  Gefahr  uns  schiitzen  Rann ! 
Der  Meine  Mutter  oft  beschutzt, 
Wo  Reines  Menschen  Hilfe  niitzt ! 
Ich  bitte  dich  mit  Zuversicht 
Verweiger'  mir  die  Bitte  nicht : 
Beschiitze  stets  das  theure  Leben, 
Das  mir  das  Licht  der  Welt  gegeben." 


THE  EMPRESS  AS  A  HORSEWOMAN  117 

(Holy  George,  thou  saintly  Horseman, 
Who  art  sure  in  danger's  hour, 
Who  hath  oft  my  mother  shielded 
When  no  mortal  arm  had  power ; 
Thee  I  pray  in  sure  confiding 
Thou  wilt  grant  the  boon  I  crave, 
Guard,  preserve  that  life  so  precious, 
Which  my  life  unto  me  gave.) 

It  is  hardly  credible  that  Francis  Joseph  dis- 
tinctly allowed  the  Empress  of  Austria  and  Queen 
of  Hungary  to  spend  many  hours  of  the  day  in 
the  Riding  School,  and  to  associate  with  jockeys 
and  professional  riders  on  an  equal  footing,  and 
it  is  said  that  a  cavalry  officer  once  observed  to 
the  Emperor  that  he  could  not  conceive  how  he 
could  permit  this  wild  riding  and  hunting. 

"Ah,  my  young  friend,"  replied  the  Emperor, 
"  you  do  not  yet  understand  women  ;  they  do  what 
they  like,  without  asking  our  permission." 

Those  who  have  seen  the  Empress  on  horse- 
back are  unanimous  that  she  presented  a  remark- 
ably pretty  picture.  She  nearly  always  wore  a 
dark  blue  habit  trimmed  with  fur  that  fitted  her 
slender  figure  to  perfection,  a  low  hat  and  thick 
gloves.  She  did  not  care  for  a  flower  or  ribbon, 
and  the  only  thing  that  could  be  considered  super- 
fluous in  her  costume  was  a  black  fan,  which  she 
either  held  in  her  hand,  or  kept  strapped  to  her 


it8  EMPRESS  ELIZABETH 

saddle.  But  she  frequently  used  it,  and  those 
who  did  not  know  her,  thought  it  was  to  protect 
her  beautiful  complexion  ;  but  those  who  under- 
stood her  more  perfectly  were  well  aware  that  it 
was  a  protection  against  painters  and  photo- 
graphers, who  were  an  annoyance  to  her,  and 
continually  on  her  track  in  order  to  take  her  like- 
ness. 

"  I  strongly  object  to  being  photographed,"  she 
used  to  say,  "for  every  single  time  that  I  have 
permitted  it,  some  misfortune  has  happened  to 
me." 

The  Viennese  considered  her  passion  for  horse- 
exercise  extravagant,  and  called  her  in  derision 
"the  circus-rider,"  but  the  Hungarians,  who 
admired  her  on  horseback,  surnamed  her  "the 
Queen  of  the  Amazons."  She  was  well  aware 
that  her  devotion  to  riding  was  displeasing  to 
many,  but  she  had  been  fond  of  it  from  a  child, 
and  as  her  long  continued  illness  had  forced  her 
physician  to  debar  her  from  it  for  some  years,  she 
resumed  it  with  perfect  indifference  to  hostile 
criticism. 

She  loved  her  horses  and  never  failed  to  have 
carrots  and  sugar  in  her  pocket  for  their  enjoy- 
ment, while  each  morning  found  her  in  the  stable 
to  pat  them,  see  that  they  were  well  groomed,  or 


THE  EMPRESS  AS  A  HORSEWOMAN  119 

on  occasion,  to  brush  and  rub  a  favourite  steed 
with  her  own  hands. 

She  had  a  room  at  Schonbruun,  the  walls  of 
which  were  simply  covered  with  pictures  of 
horses.  "  Look,"  she  said  to  her  Greek  reader, 
to  whom  she  was  showing  this  room,  "  I  have 
lost  all  these  friends  ;  many  of  them  have  met 
their  death  for  me,  which  no  human  being  would 
ever  do.  Men  would  prefer  to  kill  me !  " 

It  gave  her  intense  pleasure  to  rush  through 
the  Austrian  woods,  or  over  the  Hungarian  plains 
on  horseback,  but  her  motive  was  also  to  try  and 
conquer  the  gloomy  moods  that  were  beginning 
to  overcloud  her  mind.  There  were  relations, 
both  on  her  father's  and  on  her  mother's  side, 
who  had  drifted  steadily  through  life,  nearer  and 
nearer  to  the  abyss  of  madness,  and  some  of  the 
members  of  her  family  were  even  then  on  that 
dismal  border-land  between  the  dusk  of  a  fixed 
idea  and  the  night  of  lunacy.  As  years  went  by, 
she  noticed  more  and  more  frequently  that  her 
nervous  system  exhibited  several  of  the  symptoms 
of  the  hereditary  complaint,  and  there  is  hardly  a 
doubt  that  during  the  last  twenty  years  of  her 
life  she  was  conscious  of  the  germs  of  that  mental 
malady  peculiar  to  the  members  of  the  Bavarian 
Royal  house. 


120  EMPRESS  ELIZABETH 

She  sought  for  physical  exertion  to  dispel  her 
gloomy  forebodings  and  rode  at  a  gallop  for  miles 
in  the  twilight  of  early  dawn,  or  in  the  star-light 
night,  mainly  to  escape  from  people  and  surround- 
ings that  wearied  and  worried  her.  Or  she  would 
spend  half-days  on  horseback,  and  rush  like  a 
stormy  wind  past  the  peaceful  labourers  who  stood 
and  gazed  at  her.  These  rides  numbed  her  fears, 
and  quieted  her  over-wrought  nerves.  Wind  or 
rain,  warmth  or  cold  had  no  meaning  for  her,  and 
again  and  again  she  would  remain  in  the  saddle 
wet  through,  but  no  harm  came  of  it.  She 
seemed  to  be  absolutely  proof  against  physical 
discomfort  or  inconvenience  during  these  excur- 
sions, and  never  drew  rein  till  her  horse  was 
literally  quivering  with  exhaustion. 


CHAPTER  XIV 

THE  COUNTRY  HOUSE  AT  GODOLLO — ELIZABETH  AS  QUEEN  OF  HUNGARY 

IMMEDIATELY  after  the  coronation  in  Buda-Pesth, 
the  Hungarians  presented  to  their  Queen  the 
summer  residence  of  Godollo  not  very  far  from 
the  capital,  and  situated  in  a  thickly  wooded 
park.  In  the  absence  of  the  royal  family  the 
deep  solitude  here  is  very  striking,  and  the 
silence  of  nature  is  broken  only  by  the  now 
hilarious,  now  wailing  notes  of  the  violins  of 
passing  gipsies. 

For  many  years  Godollo  proved  the  favourite 
residence  of  the  Queen,  where  she  passed  peaceful 
days,  without  a  care,  enjoying  her  large  hunting 
parties  and  being  mistress  in  her  own  house. 

A  great  part  of  the  seventies  was  spent  in  this 
home,  and  when  here  it  was  her  custom  to  rise  at 
four  o'clock,  to  be  in  the  saddle  by  five,  and  to 
ride  till  eleven,  when  she  would  return  to  break- 
fast. 

These  rides  over  the  plains  frequently  led  her 


i«2  EMPRESS  ELIZABETH 

to  a  "  Cziko  encampment,"  when  she  never  failed 
to  stop  for  a  chat  with  these  Hungarian  Bedouins 
of  the  pusztas  (vast  moors),  half  wild  tribes  who 
fascinated  her,  and  whose  horses  attracted  the 
keen  eye  of  such  an  experienced  horsewoman. 
She  was  generous  in  her  gifts,  and  shouts  of 
welcome  never  failed  to  greet  her  when  she  was 
seen  in  full  gallop  nearing  one  of  their  camps. 
She  was  devoted  to  these  extensive  Hungarian 
plains,  the  paradise  of  a  rider,  and  at  home  in  the 
saddle,  she  scoured  the  district  from  corner  to 
corner,  till  she  knew  every  path  and  turn. 
These  were  cheerful  times,  for  her  hunting 
parties  were  renowned  all  over  Europe,  and 
every  apartment  was  filled  with  trophies  of  the 
chase. 

Francis  Joseph,  the  Crown  Prince,  Princess 
Valerie  and  invited  guests  used  to  drive  to 
welcome  the  Queen  on  her  return,  for  she  was 
nearly  always  the  first  to  arrive,  often  three  or 
four  minutes  before  her  companions. 

She  was  frequently  to  be  seen  in  the  oat-fields 
near  the  house,  wearing  a  short  skirt,  and  armed 
with  a  sickle,  cutting  food  for  her  favourite 
animals. 

"  I  have  a  tree  in  Godollo  which  is  my  best 
friend,"  she  observed  some  years  before  her  death 


ELIZABETH  AS  QUEEN  OF  HUNGARY         123 

to  one  of  her  readers.  "  When  I  arrive  and 
when  I  leave,  I  go  to  it,  and  we  gaze  at  each 
other  in  silence  for  some  minutes.  The  old  tree 
knows  my  thoughts,  and  I  confide  to  it  all  that 
has  happened  to  me  in  the  interval  that  we  have 
been  absent  one  from  the  other." 

When  in  Austria,  she  was  continually  longing 
for  Hungary,  where  she  felt  far  more  at  home, 
because  her  heart  beat  in  unison  with  its  impulsive 
romantic  inhabitants. 

She  sometimes  spent  the  whole  winter  among 
them,  and  everyone,  the  nobility,  the  middle  class, 
the  artizans,  and  not  least,  the  poorest  of  the 
people  in  Buda-Pesth,  simply  worshipped  their 
beautiful  Queen,  who  was  enchanted  to  be  in 
their  midst,  and  even  adopted  their  national 
dress. 

There  were  many  traits  in  her  character  that 
drew  her  towards  them,  and  she  did  not  fear  to 
visit  the  lowest  quarters  of  the  city,  not  as  a 
passing  spectator,  but  as  a  Sister  of  Mercy,  who 
looks  for  human  misery  in  order  to  alleviate  it. 
Her  benevolence  was  exercised  as  far  as  possible 
in  private,  and  when  she  read  in  police  reports, 
or  in  the  columns  of  the  newspapers  of  wretched 
beings  whom  poverty  had  driven  to  some  awful 
crime,  she  never  failed  to  help  them.  Her  heart 


124  EMPRESS  ELIZABETH 

grew  faint  many  a  time  as  she  climbed  dark 
narrow  backstairs  to  enter  some  miserable  garret, 
so  low  that  she  could  not  hold  herself  upright,  but 
the  sense  of  fear  was  unknown  to  her.  During 
her  residence  in  Buda-Pesth,  she  used  to  slip  out 
from  the  castle  quite  early  in  the  morning  on  her 
charitable  errands,  generally  accompanied  by  one 
lady,  though  frequently  alone.  She  wore  the 
very  plainest  clothes,  and  went  her  way  in  perfect 
confidence  to  the  poorest  part  of  the  city,  among 
the  lowest  dregs  of  the  people,  comparatively  few 
of  whom  knew  who  she  really  was,  though  her 
gentleness  and  generosity  made  her  little  short  of 
an  angelic  visitant  in  their  eyes.  Episodes  in 
her  life  which  testify  to  her  charity  and  presence 
of  mind  are  kept  in  memory  by  the  Hungarians. 

One  November  day  she  was  riding  to  a  meet 
at  Magyarod,  and  her  way  led  by  a  deep  cliff 
in  the  hills,  when  she  suddenly  perceived  a 
woman  in  front  of  her  approaching  nearer  and 
nearer  to  the  chasm  ;  she  was  old  and  blind,  as 
well  as  apparently  alone.  Elizabeth  at  once 
sprang  from  her  horse  and  helped  her  to  a  place 
of  safety,  and  but  for  this  prompt  action  the 
woman  would  undoubtedly  have  fallen  into  the 
abyss.  A  few  moments  later,  a  little  girl,  who 
ought  to  have  been  guiding  the  woman,  appeared 


ELIZABETH  AS  QUEEN  OF  HUNGARY         125 

on  the  scene,  and  the  Queen,  whose  anger  was 
roused,  punished  her  with  some  severity  for  her 
negligence.  Some  of  her  adventures  in  Hungary 
had  a  ludicrous  side.  It  happened  that  she  was 
riding  one  evening  through  the  suburbs  of  Buda- 
Pesth,  accompanied  by  a  lady-in-waiting,  when 
they  passed  a  lonely  hut  in  the  outskirts,  at  a 
little  distance  from  the  high  road,  from  which 
fearful  screams  were  heard  interspersed  with 
cries  for  help  in  the  voice  of  a  woman,  who  was 
apparently  in  the  greatest  danger.  Acting  on 
the  impulse  of  the  moment,  Elizabeth  sprang 
from  her  horse  and  hastened  to  the  door  of  the 
hut,  followed  by  her  companion.  They  burst 
open  the  door  and  found  themselves  in  a  low, 
dirty  room,  where  a  gigantic,  brigand-like  fellow 
was  dragging  a  female  over  the  floor  by  her  long 
filthy  hair,  and  administering  at  intervals  a  series 
of  violent  blows.  The  Queen  struck  him  across 
the  face  with  her  riding-whip,  and  the  man  was 
so  utterly  astonished  by  her  sudden  appearance 
and  her  vigorous  attack,  that  he  instantly  let  go 
his  victim  to  stare  in  amazement  at  the  intruder. 
But  the  next  moment  the  astonishment  of  Elizabeth 
was  greater  still,  when  the  woman  under  punish- 
ment sprang  up  and  rushed  upon  her  with  the 
fury  of  a  tigress,  while  she  overwhelmed  the 


126  EMPRESS  ELIZABETH 

stranger  with  a  torrent  of  abuse  couched  in  the 
coarsest  language  of  the  slums,  because  she  had 
dared  to  strike  her  husband.  The  Queen  laughed, 
took  a  gold  piece  from  her  pocket  and  handed  it 
to  the  man  as  she  observed  :  "  Beat  her,  my  friend, 
give  her  the  tale  of  blows  she  deserves,  she  ought 
to  have  them,  if  only  for  her  fidelity  to  you." 

In  the  summer  of  1886  Buda-Pesth  was  visited 
by  a  terrible  epidemic  of  cholera,  when  the 
"  Hungarians'  mother,"  as  Elizabeth  was  called, 
was  staying  at  Ischl.  She  at  once  expressed 
the  wish  to  go  to  the  capital  and  inspect  the 
hospitals,  but  the  Prime  Minister,  at  that  time — 
Coloman  von  Tisza — would  not  hear  of  it.  On  the 
one  hand,  the  danger  was  not  so  great  as  to  cause 
a  panic  among  the  people,  which  might  have 
justified  such  a  step  as  the  sudden  arrival  of  her 
Majesty,  and  on  the  other  hand,  it  would  be  by  no 
means  safe  for  her  to  reside  in  Buda-Pesth.  His 
sense  of  responsibility  therefore  compelled  him  to 
dissuade  her  from  undertaking  the  journey. 

She  submitted  to  the  Minister  for  the  time 
being ;  but  when,  in  spite  of  cholera  and  an 
outbreak  of  smallpox,  the  Emperor  left  for  the 
Hungarian  capital  in  order  to  open  Parliament, 
it  became  no  longer  possible  to  induce  her  to 
remain  in  Ischl. 


ELIZABETH  AS  QUEEN  OF  HUNGARY      127 

"In  the  time  of  danger  my  place  is  by  my 
husband's  side,"  was  her  only  rejoinder. 

Quite  unexpectedly  she  arrived  at  Godollo,  and 
from  there  accompanied  the  King  each  time  that 
he  had  to  visit  the  city. 

Her  devotion  to  Hungary  was  apparent  in  her 
behaviour  towards  Franz  Deak,  to  whom  the 
country  was  indebted  for  a  large  share  of  its 
recovered  freedom,  though  he  persistently  refused 
every  offer  of  money  that  had  been  made  to  him 
in  gratitude  for  his  services. 

The  Queen  took  many  opportunities  of  shewing 
kindness  and  friendship  to  the  statesman,  who 
became  seriously  ill  in  1875.  January  25th,  1876, 
she  arrived  at  Buda  from  Munich,  and  her  first 
question  was  addressed  in  the  entrance  hall  to 
Bishop  R6nay  : 

41  How  is  Deak  going  on  ?  " 

The  reply  was  that  he  had  evidently  not  long 
to  live,  when  Elizabeth  at  once  resolved  to  visit 
the  sick  man  ;  though,  with  her  usual  tact  and 
consideration,  she  waited  to  learn  if  she  might 
be  allowed  to  do  so. 

Crowds  had  gathered  at  the  house  of  the  great 
patriot  when  she  arrived,  who  wanted  to  see  for 
themselves  her  recognition  of  his  services,  and 
her  present  sympathy  with  him.  Their  silent 


128  EMPRESS  ELIZABETH 

greeting  on  this  occasion  was  in  its  way  not  one 
whit  less  hearty  than  the  "  eljen "  which  usually 
welcomed  her  presence. 

He  died  January  28th,  and  Elizabeth  wept 
when  the  news  was  brought  to  her.  His  body 
lay  in  state  in  the  great  hall  of  the  Academy, 
which  had  been  converted  into  a  chapelle  ardente, 
and  here  Elizabeth  came  in  one  of  the  simplest 
court  carriages,  and  dressed  in  deep  mourning. 

The  deputies  and  ministers  of  Hungary  were 
standing  round  the  coffin  when  the  Queen  ap- 
proached, carrying  a  wreath  of  laurel  and  white 
camellias,  tied  with  a  broad  satin  ribbon  bearing 
the  inscription  : 

"  Erzsebet  kyralyno  De*ak  Ferencznek." 
("  From  Queen  Elizabeth  to  Franz  Deak  "). 

She  stood  for  a  few  minutes  in  tearful  silence 
by  the  lifeless  body,  and  then  turned  to  leave, 
when  she  suddenly  went  back,  knelt  on  the 
lowest  step,  and  prayed  fervently. 

The  Hungarian  painters,  Munkacsy  and  Ziczy, 
have  represented  this  scene,  and  a  Hungarian 
author  has  written  : 

"  The  memory  of  Deak  is  still  glorified  among 
us,  but  the  tears  of  the  Queen  are  the  highest 
marks  of  honour  that  the  dead  hero  could  possibly 
receive." 


CHAPTER  XV 

THE      INTERNATIONAL     EXHIBITION     AT     VIENNA — ELIZABETH     AMONG 
OTHER   ROYAL   LADIES— ELIZABETH   AND   THE  VIENNESE 

THE  year  1873  was  for  many  reasons  an  eventful 
one  to  both  Elizabeth  and  the  Emperor. 

The  marriage  of  their  eldest  daughter  with 
Prince  Leopold  of  Bavaria  took  place  on  April 
2Oth  in  the  Augustiner  Kirche,  where  the  Im- 
perial pair  had  been  united  just  nineteen  years 
previously,  and  the  same  afternoon  the  bride  and 
bridegroom  left  for  Munich.  The  Viennese  over- 
whelmed the  Archduchess  with  farewell  gifts  and 
festivities,  while  the  entire  city  seemed  to  be  astir 
to  witness  the  departure  of  the  young  couple. 

A  few  days  subsequently — May  ist — the  great 
International  Exhibition  at  Vienna  was  opened  by 
the  Emperor  and  Empress.  It  was  an  imposing 
sight,  and  the  Imperial  rulers  might  well  be  proud 
of  the  gigantic  work  that  had  been  accomplished 
in  a  comparatively  short  space  of  time  by  the 
intelligence  and  mechanical  skill  of  their  subjects. 

9 


130  EMPRESS  ELIZABETH 

Francis  Joseph  and  Elizabeth  invited  the  sove- 
reigns of'  Europe  to  the  Austrian  capital,  and  in 
the  course  of  the  next  six  months,  the  Emperor 
William  I.  and  his  clever  consort,  Augusta,  were 
guests  at  the  Hofburg  and  at  Schonbrunn,  in 
addition  to  Alexander  II.  of  Russia  and  several 
members  of  his  family,  Victor  Emmanuel  King 
of  Italy,  the  Prince  of  Wales,  the  Shah  of  Persia, 
and  many  other  princes. 

It  was  no  pleasure  to  Elizabeth  to  associate 
with  emperors  and  kings,  and  she  used  to  say  : 
"  Titles  and  honourable  posts  mean  nothing,  they 
are  variegated  rags  worn  to  cover  nakedness  ;  but 
they  do  not  affect  our  real  selves." 

Little  as  she  really  cared  for  court  ceremonies, 
she  never  failed  to  take  her  share  in  them,  when 
needful,  with  admirable  charm  and  grace,  and 
when  she  was  in  company  with  other  empresses 
or  queens,  she  was  unfailingly  the  loveliest,  the 
most  admired,  and  the  most  thoroughly  interesting. 

A  few  years  before  the  downfall  of  the  second 
French  Empire,  the  Austrian  sovereigns  met 
Napoleon  III.  and  Eugenie  at  Salzburg,  when 
the  Empress  of  the  French  was  still  in  the  zenith 
of  her  beauty  and  popularity.  But,  with  her  dark 
brilliant  eyes,  her  magnificent  hair  and  the  charm 
of  her  whole  personality,  the  daughter  of  the 


INTERN  A  TIONA  L  EXHIBITION  A  T  VIENNA     1 3 1 

Wittelsbachs,  eleven  years  younger  than  Eugenie, 
had  no  need  to  enter  into  competition  with  the 
Spaniard,  and  in  fact  it  was  always  she  who  bore 
the  palm,  even  in  the  presence  of  far  younger 
princesses. 

Some  years  subsequently,  in  October,  1881, 
King  Humbert  and  Queen  Margherita  of  Italy 
were  guests  at  the  Imperial  Court,  when  compari- 
sons between  the  two  ladies  were  frequently 
overheard.  Margherita  recalled  the  freshness  of 
spring,  though  the  journalists  of  the  day  main- 
tained that  Elizabeth  was  by  far  the  lovelier  of 
the  two,  the  "  Habsburg  Autumn." 

In  the  same  year  at  the  Exhibition  (1873) 
Francis  Joseph  celebrated  the  twenty-fifth  anni- 
versary of  his  accession,  when  the  crowning  effect 
of  all  the  public  rejoicings  was  the  progress  of  the 
Imperial  rulers  and  the  Crown  Prince  through  the 
streets  of  the  city,  which  were  decorated  and 
illuminated  to  represent  broad  daylight,  in  which 
thronged  a  cheering  multitude,  eager  to  do  homage 
to  their  sovereigns. 

It  was  on  this  occasion  that  it  became  distinctly 
evident  that  it  exhausted  the  Empress  to  take 
part  in  public  functions,  and  that  she  sought  to 
withdraw  herself  as  far  as  possible  from  noise  and 
excitement.  Her  frequent  ill-health  had  made 


132  EMPRESS  ELIZABETH 

her  appreciate  solitude,  in  fact  it  had  become  an 
absolute  necessity  to  her  to  be  a  good  deal  alone. 
She  felt  herself  excited  in  the  society  of  others, 
and  when  her  Imperial  duties  forced  her  to  mix 
with  her  fellows,  her  features  often  wore  a  melan- 
choly suffering  expression. 

It  would  probably  have  caused  her  no  difficulty 
to  maintain  the  popularity  which  the  more  liberal- 
minded  had  been  ready  to  accord  to  her  in  the 
early  part  of  her  reign,  if  she  had  not  belonged 
to  a  race  afflicted  with  eccentricity  and  nerve- 
irritability  for  centuries. 

Everywhere  her  likeness  was  to  be  seen,  at  the 
Universities,  in  the  schools,  the  hotels  and  the 
booksellers'  windows.  Ladies  wore  Elizabeth 
hats,  Elizabeth  veils,  Elizabeth  cloaks  and  bows  ; 
while  visitors  to  Vienna  will  still  recall  the  Eliza- 
beth-view, the  Elizabeth  Avenue,  the  Elizabeth 
Bridge,  and  many  other  objects  that  bear  her 
name. 

It  was  a  tradition  in  Austria  that  no  one  could 
compete  with  the  Empress  as  regards  beauty, 
though,  apart  from  the  members  of  the  Court 
and  the  guests  who  were  present  at  the  couple  of 
balls  that  their  Majesties  gave  each  winter,  from 
the  close  of  the  seventies  to  the  death  of  the  Em- 
press, there  were  singularly  few  who  could  boast 


ELIZABETH  ANt>  TtiE  VIENNESE  133 

of  ever  having  seen  her.  She  was  far  too  deeply 
imbued  with  the  feeling  of  her  own  innate  dignity, 
to  permit  herself  to  be  contemplated  as  a  pure 
ornament  to  the  throne  ;  but  this  abhorrence  of 
vain  display,  and  of  being  made  the  object  of 
curious  eyes,  alienated  many  a  heart  from  her. 

Curiosity  is  a  marked  trait  in  the  character  of 
the  Viennese,  especially  concerning  the  Imperial 
house,  and  the  fact  that  they  so  rarely  caught  a 
glimpse  of  their  Empress  was  a  source  of  annoy- 
ance to  them. 

In  comparison  with  the  capital  of  Austria, 
Munich  is  a  small  town,  but  Elizabeth  had  not 
been  long  in  Vienna  before  she  discovered  that 
the  weeds  of  slander  had  taken  far  deeper  root 
there  than  in  the  home-like  city  of  her  birth.  She 
never  shewed  herself  without  exciting  uncharitable 
remarks.  Her  erect  dignified  carriage  was  con- 
strued into  pride,  her  delicate  complexion  was  due 
to  cosmetics,  her  simple  style  of  dress  was  un- 
suited  to  her  position,  while  she  was  censured  for 
the  meanness  of  her  purchases  in  the  shops  of  the 
capital. 

The  Roman  Catholic  Church  enjoins  upon  the 
Imperial  house  the  duty  of  accompanying  the 
solemn  procession  on  Good  Friday  and  Easter 
Sunday,  an  imposing  spectacle,  to  which  the 


i34  EMPRESS  ELIZABETH 

Viennese  looked  forward  year  by  year,  when  the 
Empress  headed  the  procession,  with  the  ladies 
of  her  court,  and  pages  who  bore  her  train. 

But  a  few  days  before  Easter,  it  became  a 
regular  occurrence  to  announce  that  the  Empress 
had  suddenly  become  indisposed  and  had  left 
town  for  change  of  air. 

The  light-hearted  Viennese  would  possibly  have 
condoned  a  stain  on  the  character  of  the  Empress, 
but  they  did  not  forgive  her  for  disappointing 
them  of  the  enjoyment  of  an  interesting  pageant, 
and  gradually  began  to  treat  her  with  marked 
coolness  on  the  few  occasions  when  she  appeared 
in  public.  They  called  her  proud  and  cold,  and 
it  cannot  be  denied  that  Elizabeth  certainly  tried 
the  patience  of  the  Viennese  by  the  indifference 
with  which  she  treated  them. 

How  little  suited  was  this  most  cheerful  of  the 
capitals  of  Europe  for  an  Empress  who  as  years 
passed  by  grew  more  and  more  melancholy  and 
retiring ! 

It  was  probably  she  herself  who  was  the  first  to 
perceive  that  she  was  no  longer  acceptable,  either 
to  the  middle  classes  or  to  the  aristocracy,  a  fact 
which  would  naturally  increase  her  own  preference 
for  seclusion. 

"  The  people  do  not  know  what  to  make  of  me," 


ELIZABETH  AND  THE  VIENNESE          13$ 

she  used  to  say,  "  I  do  not  suit  their  pre-conceived 
notions,  and  they  do  not  like  me  to  dispel  their 
illusions.  In  this  way  I  am  thrown  back  entirely 
upon  myself.  Neither  am  I  in  touch  with  the 
higher  classes,  who  do  not  care  to  seek  me  in  my 
solitude  ;  they  appear  to  have  something  better  to 
do." 

And  she  added,  "  My  long  isolation  has  taught 
me  that  the  burden  of  existence  becomes  heaviest 
in  the  presence  of  our  fellow  beings."* 

At  the  close  of  the  Exhibition,  she  had  taken 
into  her  service  a  little  negro  named  Mahmoud, 
who  had  been  a  messenger  in  the  Cairo  house 
which  the  Khedive  had  built  in  the  Prater,  and 
had  presented  to  Elizabeth.  Mahmoud  did  his 
mistress's  bidding  and  was  happy  to  be  near  her, 
while  the  Empress  treated  him  with  the  greatest 
kindness,  and  nursed  him  during  an  attack  of  inflam- 
mation of  the  lungs  induced  by  the  cold  of  Vienna. 
Both  people  and  aristocracy  were  incensed  against 
her,  when  they  discovered  that  the  Archduchess 
Valerie  was  allowed  to  play  with  the  negro,  and 
the  Empress  is  said  to  have  observed  : 

"It  is  just  as  much  a  necessity  for  people  to 
speak  ill  of  one  another,  as  it  is  for  a  cypress  to 
mourn." 

*  Dr.  Christomanos's  "  Diary." 


136  EMPRESS  ELIZABETH 

On  another  occasion,  it  is  reported  that  she 
said  :  "  Beware  of  court  intrigues,  you  never 
know  what  traps  are  laid  for  your  feet,  and  it  is  an 
utter  impossibility  for  folk  at  court  to  live  an  hour 
without  maligning  their  neighbours." 

"  I  ought  to  thank  my  God,"  she  continued, 
"  that  I  am  Empress,  or  it  would  go  ill  with  me. 
They  just  tolerate  an  Empress,  because  she  is 
more  or  less  of  use  to  them." 

There  were  times  when  life  at  court  almost 
alarmed  her,  and  the  vain,  short-sighted  society  of 
Vienna  was  always  on  the  alert  to  spread  libellous 
reports  about  her,  which  were  taken  up  and 
passed  on  by  the  middle  classes,  so  that  in  the 
course  of  years,  her  name  became  so  besmirched 
in  the  Austrian  capital,  that  it  would  have  needed 
more  than  a  little  equanimity  to  put  up  with  it. 
This  was  a  quality  that  Elizabeth  did  not  possess, 
and  patience  is  notpne  of  the  Wittelsbach  virtues. 
She  was  naturally  of  an  irritable  disposition,  and 
as  she  advanced  in  years,  physical  infirmities 
tended  to  develop  still  more  forcibly  the  passionate 
and  impatient  traits  in  her  character,  while  she 
experienced  an  almost  savage  resentment  in  face 
of  the  scandal  to  which  she  was  exposed. 

When  she  became  aware  that  her  kindness  to 
Mahmoud  was  a  cause  of  offence,  she  had  her 


ELIZABETH  AND  THE  VIENNESE  137 

daughter  Valerie  and  the  negro  photographed 
together,  and  ordered  that  the  likeness  should  be 
exhibited.  It  was  hardly  without  cause  that  this 
step  aggravated  the  zeal  of  evil  tongues  to  wound 
their  Empress,  and  there  were  many  who  main- 
tained that  from  this  time  the  restlessness  which 
became  daily  more  apparent  and  her  repeated 
singular  caprices  were  all  signs  of  incipient  insanity. 


CHAPTER   XVI 

THE   EMPRESS    AND   BENEFICENCE— IMPERIAL   SILVER   WEDDING 
FESTIVITIES 

IN  the  previous  chapter  we  learnt  a  few  of  the 
main  causes  that  tended  to  render  Elizabeth 
unpopular  in  the  Austrian  capital ;  but  there  were 
still  others.  When  the  Germans  in  Austria  began 
to  attach  themselves  to  Prussia  and  the  Hohen- 
zollerns,  she  ceased  to  feel  herself  a  German, 
while  the  German  inhabitants  of  her  husband's 
dominions  instinctively  felt  that  she  disapproved 
of  many  of  their  proceedings. 

Then  her  marked  preference  for  Hungary  was 
unpardonable  in  the  eyes  of  many  who  secretly 
whispered  that  her  considerable  Austrian  appan- 
age was  devoted  to  distressed  Magyars,  and  the 
unpopularity  of  the  good,  warm-hearted  Empress 
was  undoubtedly  enhanced  by  her  predilection  for 
her  trans- Leitha  subjects. 

With  reference  to  her  gifts,  the  aspersion  was 
manifestly  unjust,  for  there  is  not  to  be  found  in 


ftfE  EMPRESS  AND  RENEFJCENCE  139 

the  whole  Habsburg  empire,  in  Austria  as  well  as 
in  Hungary,  hardly  a  single  benevolent  institution 
or  endowment  which  she  has  not  patronised  and 
supported. 

It  is  said  that  as  she  was  driving  by  some 
barracks  in  Vienna  soon  after  her  marriage,  a 
soldier  was  running  the  gauntlet  for  some  minor 
offence.  She  heard  his  shrieks,  stopped  the 
carriage,  and  enquired  the  cause.  A  few  days 
afterwards,  at  her  request,  the  Emperor  com- 
manded that  the  antiquated  military  penal  laws  of 
Austria  should  be  abolished  and  replaced  by  more 
modern  punishment.  She  never  heard  of  a  mis- 
fortune without  trying  to  bring  comfort  or  allevia- 
tion. 

We  have  already  seen  how  she  visited  the  sick 
and  wounded  in  the  wars  of  1859  and  1866,  but 
it  was  a  far  greater  proof  of  heroism  and  self- 
sacrifice,  when  she  went  the  round  of  the  hospitals 
during  several  epidemics  of  typhus  and  cholera, 
without  a  thought  of  the  deadly  danger  to  which 
she  was  exposing  herself. 

When  the  Austrians  occupied  Bosnia*  and 
Herzegovina,  they  were  vigorously  resisted  by 
the  inhabitants,  and  lost  some  5000  men,  "killed, 
wounded,  or  missing."  The  need  for  help  was 

*  In  conformity  with  the  Treaty  of  Berlin,  July  I3th,  1878. 


140  £MPR£SS  ELIZABETH 

imperative  ;  the  sick  had  to  be  tended,  and  pro- 
vision made  for  the  survivors  of  those  who  had 
fallen,  and  the  Empress  was  again  ready  to 
strengthen  the  hands  of  the  National  Union  of 
Women  Workers,  whose  mission  is  to  assist 
needy  soldiers  and  their  widows  and  orphans,  and 
to  nurse  the  wounded. 

A  ready  response  was  given  in  every  town  of 
Austria-Hungary  to  her  appeal  for  co-operation 
in  this  good  work.  It  may  be  urged  that  to  take 
the  lead  in  all  works  of  benevolence  and  to  visit 
general  and  military  hospitals  belong  so  to  speak, 
to  the  duties  of  an  Empress,  but  as  Elizabeth's 
preference  for  a  retired  life  became  more  and 
more  pronounced,  her  inclination  to  take  a  pro- 
minent share  in  good  works  would  naturally 
diminish.  In  later  years  she  only  visited  the 
public  institutions  of  Austria  under  pressure  from 
the  Emperor,  and  was  far  too  wanting  in  per- 
severance to  do  so  with  any  regularity.  She 
carried  out  her  more  official  beneficence  under  a 
characteristic  mask  of  indifference  and  haste,  as 
though  she  were  pressed  for  time  ;  and  on  her 
rare  visits  to  the  philanthropic  institutions  of 
Vienna,  she  drove  up  without  warning  like  a 
veritable  hurricane.  On  one  occasion,  in  the 
course  of  a  few  hours,  she  paid  from  eight  to  ten 


SILVER  WEDDING  FESTIVITIES  141 

such  visits,  in  the  four  quarters  of  the  capital,  as 
though  she  would  overtake  what  she  had  neglected, 
and  accomplish  all  her  benevolent  duties  in  one 
rapid  ride. 

And  yet  she  was  good,  for  she  assisted  innumer- 
able cases  of  sickness  and  suffering  up  to  the  day 
of  her  death,  and  in  Vienna  she  visited  many  a 
den  of  misery,  though  certainly  not  so  frequently 
as  she  did  in  Buda-Pesth. 

But  the  Viennese  in  general  knew  nothing 
about  the  charity  which  she  exercised  in  private; 
it  never  occurred  to  them  that  the  kind-hearted 
lady  who  cared  so  bountifully  for  their  needs,  was 
the  proud  Empress  who  was  stigmatised  by  high 
and  low  as  heartless  and  indifferent  to  the  woes 
of  others. 

In  1879,  Francis  Joseph  and  Elizabeth  cele- 
brated their  silver  wedding,  and  the  approach  of 
the  day  (April  24th)  filled  them  with  sadness. 

Their  married  life  had  been  more  subject  than 
that  of  most  couples  to  change  and  disappoint- 
ment with  regard  to  their  mutual  feelings ;  but, 
though  on  a  different  basis,  a  fresh  and  in  its  way 
a  hearty  relation  had  sprung  up  between  them,  in 
which  the  Empress  had  learnt  not  to  expect  that 
which  she  fully  believed  to  be  her  right. 

The    Imperial  "silver   bridal    pair"   expressed 


142  EMPRESS  ELIZABETH 

the  wish  that  no  public  festivities  should  take 
place  in  the  land,  and  that  the  money  which  the 
cities  and  country  districts  might  think  of  spend- 
ing for  that  purpose  should  be  applied  to 
charitable  objects. 

The  capital  was  to  be  the  sole  exception  ;  for 
in  memory  of  the  happy  escape  of  Francis 
Joseph  in  1853  from  the  murderous  attack  of  the 
Hungarian  Libenyi,  a  church  had  been  built  at 
the  voluntary  expense  of  the  people,  on  the  very 
spot  where  the  attempt  had  been  made,  and  it 
was  solemnly  consecrated  in  the  presence  of  the 
Imperial  couple  during  the  bridal  festivities. 

On  the  twenty-fifth  anniversary  of  their 
wedding,  Francis  Joseph  and  Elizabeth  again 
stood  at  the  altar  steps,  and  there  were  no 
outward  traces  of  the  storms  that  had  ruffled  the 
by -gone  years  of  their  union.  The  Emperor  was 
in  the  full  strength  of  manhood,  and  the  Empress 
was  called  with  perfect  truth,  "the  loveliest  of 
grandmothers."  * 

The  whole  city  turned  into  the  streets  through 
which  the  Imperial  pair  must  drive  to  the  house 
of  God,  where  young  girls  were  standing  to 
await  them  in  the  vestibule.  They  came  forward 
as  the  Emperor  and  Empress  returned  after  the 

*  Their  eldest  daughter  Gisela  had  already  several  children. 


SILVER  WEDDING  FESTIVITIES  143 

ceremony,  and  summoned  up  courage,  when 
Elizabeth  kindly  recognised  them,  one  to  recite 
a  pretty  speech,  and  another  to  present  her  with 
some  flowers. 

The  poets  of  Austria  and  Hungary  had  tuned 
their  lyres  in  honour  of  the  "silver  bridal  pair," 
but  their  homage  touched  Elizabeth  far  less  than 
the  following  greeting  from  one  of  the  singers  of 
her  native  land  : 

"  Wie  deiner  Giite  milder  Sinn 
Erhab'ne  Kaiserin  ! 
Wie  Huld,  die  deine  Stirne  krantzt 
Hoch  uber  alien  Festshmuck  glanzt, 
So  bliih  dir  Macht  and  Segen 
In  Zukunft  allerwegen. 
O,  nimm  hiefiir  als  Treuespfand 
Den  Herzensgruss  vom  Heimatland  ! " 

(Be  crowned,  Imperial  Lady, 

By  thy  virtue's  diadem, 

That  radiance  which  thy  brow  surrounds, 

Outshining  earthly  gem  : 

All  power,  blessing,  still  be  thine, 

And  take  this  greeting  as  a  sign 

And  pledge  from  those  who  share  with  thee 

One  Fatherland,  august  and  free) 

The  now  historical  pageant  of  Vienna  in 
commemoration  of  the  silver  wedding  closed  the 
festivities.  For  months  in  advance,  the  cele- 


144  EMPRESS  ELIZABETH 

brated  historical  painter  Hans  Makart  (died 
October  3rd,  1884)  had  been  busy  preparing  the 
plan,  and  even  the  detailed  minutiae  of  the 
processions  which  were  ingeniously  conceived 
and  magnificently  carried  out. 

An  imposing  number  of  representatives  of  all 
ranks,  institutions  and  offices  of  every  province 
in  the  Empire  took  part  in  the  procession  which 
walked  from  the  Ring- Strasse*  amid  deafening 
applause,  and  all  the  different  groups,  on  horse- 
back, on  foot,  or  in  gorgeous  coaches,  were 
habited  in  splendid  historical  costumes. 

Francis  Joseph  and  the  Empress,  who  were 
exposed  for  hours  to  this  vociferous  cheering  of 
the  defiling  crowd,  were  naturally  much  overcome 
by  the  universal  enthusiasm. 

*  It  encircles  the  entire  inner  city  and  has  been  constructed  on 
the  site  of  the  old  ramparts  and  glacis.  It  averages  55  yards  in 
width,  and  two  miles  in  length. 


CHAPTER  XVII 

MARRIAGE   OF   THE   CROWN    PRINCE   RUDOLPH — THE   EMPRESS   AND   HER 

CASTLES 

« 

THE  only  son  of  Francis  Joseph  and  Elizabeth 
had  grown  up  to  be  the  pride  of  his  parents,  as 
well  as  remarkably  popular  among  the  people. 
He  never  attended  a  public  school,  but  under 
competent  private  masters  he  acquired  a  thorough 
sound  education  on  modern  lines.  He  had  in- 
herited his  mother's  dislike  to  narrow-mindedness, 
as  well  as  her  literary  and  artistic  tastes,  and  her 
enjoyment  of  an  outdoor  life. 

According  to  the  old  traditions  of  the  Austrian 
Imperial  house,  he  had  to  learn  a  trade,  and  he 
chose  that  of  a  printer.  He  was  a  diligent 
student  at  the  University  of  Vienna,  and  was 
constantly  to  be  seen  at  the  Hofburg  Theatre, 
the  training  school  for  the  artistic  taste  of  the 
Viennese.  Like  his  mother,  he  made  his  best 
friends  outside  his  own  sphere,  arid  preferred  the 

iO 


146  EMPRESS  ELIZABETH 

society  of  authors  and  journalists.  Every  branch 
of  natural  history  attracted  his  attention,  and  he 
found  an  enthusiastic  friend  and  master  in  the 
celebrated  naturalist  Brehm. 

He  himself  was  a  clever  writer  of  travels,  and 
several  of  his  books  have  met  with  success,  not 
because  he  was  the  Emperor's  son,  but  because  he 
was  a  reliable  authority.* 

The  intercourse  between  himself  and  the  Em- 
press Elizabeth  had  gradually  developed  into  that 
of  an  attached  brother  and  sister.  He  went  to 
her  with  his  joys  and  sorrows,  and  devoted  as  his 
mother  became  to  him,  she  was  not  blind  to  his 
faults,  and  knew  but  too  well  that  he  was  just  as 
impressionable  and  unsteady  as  his  father  had 
been. 

Both  parents  agreed  that  it  was  necessary  he 

*  "  Rudolph  was  not  a  mere  courtier,  a  mere  soldier,  or  a  mere 
sportsman,  but  a  master  of  many  useful  acquirements  and  graceful 
accomplishments.  Interested  in  all  intellectual  pursuits,  he  was 
not  only  the  patron  of  science,  literature  and  art,  but  was  himself 
an  active  worker  in  those  fields.  His  refined  and  educated  tastes 
added  to  his  social  charm.  He  had,  however,  in  addition  to  these, 
more  solid  advantages,  which  unde,r  favourable  conditions,  might 
have  been  of  much  political  service.  A  fluent  and  agreeable  orator, 
a  linguist,  capable  as  our  correspondent  affirms  of  writing  and 
speaking  most  of  the  languages  of  the  polyglot  monarchy  of  the 
Habsburgs.  An  unwearied  traveller,  led  by  his  keen  interest  in 
natural  history  to  distant  lands,  he  had  it  in  his  power  to  render 
valuable  service  in  a  composite  State." 

Times. 


MARRIAGE  OF  PRINCE  RUDOLPH  147 

should  marry,  partly  in  the  hope  of  securing  the 
direct  succession  to  the  throne,  and  partly  that 
matrimony  might  put  a  check  on  his  restless  dis- 
sipated life. 

Francis  Joseph  was  guided  solely  by  political 
considerations  in  selecting  a  wife  for  his  son, 
while  Elizabeth  naturally  thought  of  his  domestic 
happiness.  There  was  no  need  to  be  in  a  great 
hurry,  and  she  wished  him  to  look  for  a  bride 
who  would  combine  external  gifts  with  intellectual 
power,  and  thus  be  able  to  gain,  and  then  retain 
his  wavering  affections. 

At  the  time  when  Rudolph  was  approaching 
his  twentieth  year,  there  were  singularly  few 
marriageable  Roman  Catholic  princesses  in 
Europe.  The  Emperor's  choice  of  a  daughter- 
in-law,  not  that  of  the  Empress,  fell  on  the  Bel- 
gian Princess  Stephanie,  who  was  about  seven- 
teen, with  mediocre  abilities,  and  no  especial 
outward  attraction.  Elizabeth  had  a  strong 
aversion  to  the  King  of  the  Belgians  ;  and  his 
wife,  an  Austrian  Archduchess,  was  likewise  no 
favourite  of  hers.  She  did  her  utmost  to  dissuade 
from  the  match,  but  the  sister  to  the  Queen  of 
the  Belgians,  the  Austrian  Archduchess  Eliza- 
beth,* an  authority  at  court,  to  whom  Francis 
*  Mother  to  Maria  Christina,  Queen  Regent  of  Spain. 


14&  EMPRESS  ELIZABETH 

Joseph  was  warmly  attached, interfered  on  behalf 
of  her  niece,  and  with  the  aid  of  some  other 
counsellors,  set  aside  all  the  objections  that  the 
Empress  could  bring  forward. 

The  betrothal  was  made  known,  and  in  due 
course,  the  King  and  Queen  of  the  Belgians, 
accompanied  by  their  daughter,  made  their  entry 
into  Vienna,  though  the  whole  proceeding  was  a 
matter  of  complete  indifference  to  the  Crown 
Prince. 

The  marriage  took  place  May  loth,  1881,  and 
Elizabeth  conscientiously  performed  all  the  duties 
connected  with  the  ceremony  that  were  incum- 
bent upon  her  as  the  bridegroom's  mother ; 
though  her  coolness  and  reserve  towards  her 
daughter-in-law  and  the  King  and  Queen  of  the 
Belgians,  were  patent  to  all  present. 

During  a  drive  through  the  capital  with  Queen 
Henriette  by  her  side,  she  bowed  repeatedly  in 
response  to  the  cheering  of  the  crowd,  but  the 
expression  on  her  countenance  showed  that  her 
thoughts  were  not  with  them,  and  during  the 
whole  long  drive,  she  did  not  address  one  single 
remark  to  her  companion.  This  cruel  self-re- 
pression broke  down  during  the  marriage  service 
and  she  burst  into  tears  ;  it  was  the  last  time 
that  the  Empress  was  seen  in  public  in  Vienna. 


THE  EMPRESS  AND  HER  CASTLES  149 

The  Viennese  longed  for  a  princess  in  their 
Imperial  house  to  whom  they  could  give  their 
affections.  Stephanie  represented  youth  with  all 
its  hopes  and  desires,  and  they  welcomed  the 
royal  bride  with  rapturous  delight ;  but  when  a 
little  daughter  was  born,  September  3rd,  1883, 
the  enthusiasm  of  the  people  was  an  index  to  the 
popularity  of  both  Rudolph  and  the  Crown  Prin- 
cess. 

It  was  only  a  natural  sequence  that  the  relation 
between  mother  and  son  should  be  a  different 
one  after  his  marriage,  but  Elizabeth  felt  it  keenly, 
though  it  was  not  long  before  Rudolph  returned 
to  her  with  many  of  his  troubles  and  she  quickly 
discovered  that  he  was  far  from  happy  in  his 
marriage.  She  herself  was  less  at  home  than 
ever  in  the  H  of  burg,  and  after  the  arrival  of  the 
Crown  Princess,  she  never  paid  more  than  a 
short  visit  to  the  capital  each  winter,  and  it  has 
been  asserted  that  for  years  she  was  never  there 
longer  than  three  or  four  weeks  at  a  time.  Both 
she  and  Francis  Joseph  liked  to  spend  a  summer 
month  at  Ischl  ;  jt  was  full  of  important  recollec- 
tions for  them,  and  the  whole  family  were  accus- 
tomed to  assemble  there  for  the  Emperor's  birth- 
day, August  1 8th.  Elizabeth  found  here  ample 
opportunity  for  the  mountain  excursions  she  so 


ISO  EMPRESS  ELIZABETH 

dearly  loved,  and  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Ischl, 
there  is  hardly  a  hill-top  or  a  mountain  dairy 
("sseterhytte  ")  where  the  peasants  have  not  met 
the  Empress,  one  summer  after  another.  It  was 
her  pleasure  to  talk  to  them,  to  enquire  after  the 
details  of  their  daily  life,  and  to  pay  with  a  liberal 
hand  for  every  glass  of  milk  that  was  offered  to 
her.  The  children  brought  her  posies  of  Alpine 
flowers,  and  their  hearty  : 

"  Kiiss  die  Hand,  Frau  Kaiserin !  "  always  met 
with  the  friendly  response  : — 

"  Griiss  Euch  Gott,  Hebe  Kinder !  " 

For  several  years  after  the  death  of  her  brother- 
in-law,  the  Emperor  Maximilian  of  Mexico,  she 
regularly  visited  his  castle  of  Miramare  in  the 
vicinity  of  Trieste.  It  is  built  of  the  purest,  finest 
marble  on  a  cliff  overhanging  the  open  sea,  and 
close  by  is  a  villa,  inhabited  for  some  time  by  the 
Empress  Charlotte,  hopelessly  mad. 

There  were  several  arrangements  in  the  Hof- 
burg,  as  well  as  at  Schonbrunn,  which  did  not  suit 
the  taste  of  the  Empress,  but  which  her  respect 
for  old  traditions  would  not  allow  her  to  interfere 
with.  The  Emperor  was  accustomed  to  spend 
the  spring  months  at  Schonbrunn,  and  in  the 
early  years  of  her  marriage,  Elizabeth  frequently 
accompanied  him  ;  but  she  pined  for  something 


THE  EMPRESS  AND  HER  CASTLES  151 

different,  though  it  was  not  till  about  the  time  of 
her  son's  marriage,  that  she  resolved  to  build  a 
castle  of  her  own,  "  Waldesruhe,"  at  the  beautiful 
village  of  Hietzing,  in  the  Imperial  park  of  Lainz, 
to  the  west  of  Schonbrunn.  This  little  castle,  in 
the  Renaissance  style,  was  erected  in  the  course 
of  two  years,  under  the  immediate  supervision  of 
the  Empress,  and  during  the  whole  time  no 
curious  person  was  allowed  to  approach,  nor  even 
to  look  at  it,  if  possible  ;  and  it  even  remained  a 
profound  secret  from  the  outer  world,  until  after 
Her  Majesty's  death.  The  park  at  Lainz,  one  of 
the  oldest  and  most  beautiful  woody  stretches  in 
the  neighbourhood  of  Vienna,  is  enclosed  by  a 
high  stone  wall,  above  which  the  mere  tops  of  the 
trees  are  visible,  and  the  gardens  round  the  castle 
are  rendered  absolutely  private  by  impenetrable 
hedges  of  thorn.  None  but  the  members  of  her 
household  had  access  to  the  park  and  grounds, 
and  no  views  of  the  castle  or  pictures  of  the  works 
of  art  it  concealed  were  allowed  to  be  made  public. 
The  facade  is  adorned^  with  terraces  and 
balconies,  always  brilliant  with  a  wealth  of  flowers 
during  the  Empress's  stay.  A  flight  of  broad 
marble  steps,  covered  with  crimson  velvet,  leads 
to  the  first  floor  on  which  were  the  apartments  of 
their  Majesties,  as  well  as  a  large  reception  room. 


152  EMPRESS  ELIZABETH 

There  were  four  windows  in  Elizabeth's  bed- 
room, two  looking  east,  and  two  looking  south, 
with  doors  from  these  latter  opening  on  to 
a  balcony.  In  one  corner  of  the  room  was  a 
statuette  of  the  Virgin,  with  a  costly  antique 
rosary  twined  round  the  base.  In  another  corner 
was  a  bronze  figure  of  Niobe,  backed  by  ever- 
greens, which  had  rather  a  weird  effect.  In  the 
other  corners  were  green  hanging  lamps  for 
electric  light,  which  the  Empress  could  turn  on  as 
she  lay  in  bed,  in  such  a  way,  that  the  only 
glimmer  in  the  large  room  fell  on  Niobe,  amid  her 
mass  of  foliage.  She  always  breakfasted  on  the 
balcony  that  adjoined  her  room  where  stood  a 
favourite  work  of  art,  a  smaller  caste  of  the  statue 
of  Heine,  which  the  Danish  sculptor  Hasselriis 
had  executed  in  marble  for  her  villa  Achilleion,  in 
Corfu.  When  she  longed  for  solitude  or  felt  ill, 
this  breakfast  balcony  was  always  her  retreat. 
From  the  opposite  side  of  the  room,  a  door  opened 
into  her  dressing-room,  with  a  gigantic  revolving 
mirror,  and  countless  toilet  accessories  in  glass, 
painted  porcelain  and  silver. 

To  the  left  of  her  bedroom  in  "  Waldesruhe," 
or  Lainz,  as  the  castle  was  generally  called,  was 
the  Empress's  library,  which  also  opened  by  fold- 
ing doors  on  to  a  balcony,  with  a  large  writing- 


THE  EMPRESS  AND  HER  CASTLES  153 

table,  on  which  were  remembrances  from  her 
children  and  grandchildren,  drawings  or  paintings, 
especially  for  herself. 

The  large  table  in  the  centre  of  the  room  was 
covered  with  innumerable  costly  books  and  port- 
folios collected  during  her  travels,  presided  over, 
as  it  were,  by  a  particularly  good  likeness  of  her 
cousin,  Louis  II.  of  Bavaria. 

Bronze  vases,  Oriental  china  and  precious  works 
of  art,  with  flowers  in  every  available  position, 
completed  the  decoration  of  this  room,  which  in 
the  evening  was  frequently  made  cheerful  by  an 
open  fire,  over  which  the  Emperor  and  Empress 
would  sit  and  chat. 

The  apartments  below  these  belonged  to  the 
Archduchess  Marie  Valerie,  and  those  beneath 
the  Emperor's  suite  of  rooms,  connected  with  the 
Empress's  by  the  large  reception  hall  were  for 
the  use  of  guests. 

Gymnastic  exercises  played  an  important  role 
in  the  life  of  Elizabeth,  and  in  every  one  of  the 
castles  in  which  she  spent  any  time,  there  was  a 
well-appointed  gymnasium. 

Her  reader,  Dr.  Christomanos,  relates  that  he 
once  surprised  her  as  she  was  in  the  act  of 
reaching  out  her  hands  to  the  rings,  wearing  a 
trained  black  silk  gown  trimmed  with  ostrich 


154  EMPRESS  ELIZABETH 

feathers.  She  at  once  came  forward,  jumping 
over  a  rope,  stretched  across  the  room. 

"This  is  here,"  she  said,  "so  that  I  shall  not 
forget  how  to  jump." 

She  was  expecting  some  of  the  Archduchesses, 
which  accounted  for  her  elegant  costume. 

"  If  they  knew  that  I  practised  in  this  dress 
they  would  fall  backwards  with  horror,"  she  con- 
tinued. "  I  was  only  taking  a  turn  as  I  passed 
by  ;  morning  or  evening  is  my  usual  time.  I  am 
fully  aware  of  the  claims  of  Imperial  dignity  !  "  I 
am  never  tired  of  walking,"  she  observed  to  me  on 
another  occasion.  "  My  sisters,  Alenson  and  the 
Queen  of  Naples,  are  renowned  in  Paris  for  their 
inimitable  carriage,  but  we  do  not  walk  like 
queens  :  the  Bourbons,  who  are  rarely  on  foot, 
have  acquired  a  style  of  their  own,  like  proud 
geese,  and  walk  as  rulers  of  the  land  !  " 


CHAPTER  XVIII 

VISIT  TO  BAVARIA— ELIZABETH  AND   KING  LOUIS   II. 

THROUGH  all  her  cares  and  changes,  Elizabeth 
never  wavered  in  her  affections  for  her  native 
land,  and  on  her  return  from  those  long,  frequent 
journeys  which  became  more  and  more  a  necessity 
of  her  existence,  she  never  failed  to  spend  a  few 
weeks  in  the  vicinity  of  Possenhofen,  where  she 
visited  the  well  remembered  spots  in  wood  or 
field,  and  exchanged  a  greeting  with  her  old 
peasant  friends.  The  Bavarians  used  to  call  her 
"our  Empress,"  without  reflecting  that  the  title 
belonged  to  the  Queen  of  Prussia  after  1870. 

Of  late  years  she  did  not  stay  with  her  parents, 
but  at  Strauch's  hotel,  in  the  village  of  Feldafing* 
where  she  occupied  a  suite  of  rooms  for  several 
consecutive  summers.  The  hotel  is  renowned  for 
its  charming  situation  and  the  fresh,  fragrant 

*  One  of  the  most  popular  resorts  on  the  Lake  of  Starnberg. 


156  EMPRESS  ELIZABETH 

woods  close  at  hand,  undisturbed  by  a  sound, 
except  that  of  a  forester  or  wood-cutter,  seemed 
as  it  were  created  to  satisfy  the  Empress's  craving 
for  solitude. 

Time  had  not  weakened  her  devotion  to  her 
father,  her  respectful  confidence  in  her  mother's 
counsel,  or  her  friendship  for  her  brothers  and 
sisters,  to  whom,  in  the  hope  of  giving  them 
pleasure,  she  wrote  long  letters  at  regular  in- 
tervals, frequently  accompanied  by  acceptable 
and  tasteful  gifts. 

Sorrow  had  pressed  heavily  on  the  aging 
couple.  Their  eldest  son  had  married  an  actress 
of  doubtful  reputation,  and  their  eldest  daughter, 
Princess  of  Thurn  and  Taxis,*  had  recently  lost 
her  husband  and  her  eldest  son,  which  neces- 

*  "  Thurn  and  Taxis,  the  name  of  a  noble  family  of  the  German 
Empire,  famous  for  its  former  possession  of  a  monopoly  of  the 
postal  service.  It  is  descended  from  the  della  Torre,  (whence  the 
name  Thurn,  a  German  translation  of  Torre)  one  of  whom  took  the 
namede  Tassis,  (Taxis)  from  the  castle  of  Tasso.  In  1516  Franz  von 
Thurn  established  the  first  post  between  Vienna  and  Brussels,  and 
in  1595  his  descendant  became  Postmaster-General  of  the  Empire, 
securing  for  himself  and  his  heirs  the  right  of  carrying  the  mail 
throughout  the  Imperial  dominions.  A  century  later  the  princely 
rank  became  hereditary  in  the  family,  but  the  postal  privileges  were 
gradually  curtailed  by  the  different  Governments,  which  granted 
extensive  territories  in  compensation.  The  family  has  hereditary 
possessions  in  Austria,  Bavaria,  Belgium,  Wurtemberg  and  Prussia. 
The  last  of  these  States  arranged  with  the  family  for  the  abolition 
of  the  monopoly  in  1867." 

Johnson! s  Universal  Cyclopadia, 


VISIT  TO  BAVARIA  157 

sitated  the  exercise  of  all  her  energy  to  direct 
the  management  of  the  considerable  wealth  of 
the  family.  Like  Elizabeth,  their  third  daughter, 
Marie,  had  been  raised  to  a  throne  when  only 
seventeen  by  her  marriage  with  Francis  II. 
King  of  the  Two  Sicilies,  though  within  a  year  of 
their  union,  she  and  her  husband  were  expelled 
by  Garibaldi  and  his  volunteers,  since  when  she 
had  lived  a  landless  queen,  by  the  side  of  a  man 
totally  unworthy  of  her. 

An  equally  joyless  life  had  fallen  to  the  lot 
of  their  fourth  daughter,  Mathilde,  who  when 
eighteen  had  become  the  wife  of  Comte  Louis 
de  Trani,  a  broken-down  roue,  who  finally 
committed  suicide.  Neither  Marie  nor  Mathilde 
had  ever  seen  their  future  husbands  before  the 
wedding  day. 

Sophie,  who  afterwards  became  Duchess  of 
Alen^on,  was  the  youngest  of  the  Wittelsbach 
sisters,  who  as  a  remarkably  beautiful  child  had 
lived  near  the  shore  of  the  Lake  of  Starnberg 
In  outward  appearance,  she  resembled  Elizabeth, 
but  not  in  temperament,  for  all  who  knew  her  in 
her  youth  speak  of  her  sparkling  vivacity. 

Louis  II.  had  ascended  the  throne  of  Bavaria 
when  only  nineteen,  and  although  he  was 
handsome  as  an  Adonis,  and  therefore  adored, 


158  EMPRESS  ELIZABETH 

especially  by  women,  he  soon  conceived  an 
aversion  to  his  faithful  people  of  Munich,  and 
their  more  or  less  well-intentioned  curiosity, 
which  drove  him  to  build  castles  in  lonely 
mountain  spots  and  to  shew  himself  with  less 
and  less  frequency  among  his  subjects. 

The  year  after  his  accession,  by  his  own  choice, 
without  advice  or  persuasion,  he  became  engaged 
to  his  cousin  Sophie,  who  was  just  eighteen. 
The  announcement  produced  universal  satis- 
faction, and  it  was  certainly  one  of  the  happiest 
and  proudest  moments  in  the  lives  of  Maximilian 
Joseph  and  Ludovica,  when  they  were  allowed 
to  publish  the  betrothal  of  their  daughter  to  the 
young  King. 

Louis  was  deeply  in  love  with  his  cousin,  and 
commissioned  the  most  renowned  sculptors  to 
execute  her  bust,  which  he  placed  in  his  winter 
garden  and  was  never  weary  of  contemplating. 

While  preparation  for  the  bride's  trousseau 
were  progressing  at  Possenhofen,  the  King  was 
anxious  that  his  people  should  possess  a  worthy 
likeness  of  his  future  Queen,  and  sent  for  the 
best  engraver  in  the  kingdom  to  take  the  portrait 
of  the  beautiful  princess,  and  to  prepare  hundreds 
of  thousands  of  copies  to  be  distributed  among 
the  multitude  on  the  day  of  their  marriage. 


ELIZABETH  AND  LOUIS  II.  159 

He  was  a  constant  visitor  at  the  artist's  studio 
while  the  work  was  in  progress,  and  exclaimed 
with  enthusiasm  when  he  was  shown  the  first 
impression  : 

"  A  truly  royal  bride  ! " 

The  hopes  that  filled  all  hearts  were  doomed  to 
bitter  disappointment  in  the  future.  October  i  ith, 
1865,  shortly  before  the  wedding,  the  King  quite 
unexpectedly  broke  off  the  engagement,  on  the 
plea  that  his  cousin  did  not  love  him  and  was 
not  faithful  to  him. 

From  the  moment  of  his  accession  to  the 
throne,  all  had  flattered  him,  admired  him,  and 
grovelled  in  the  dust  before  him.  But  the 
diseased  mind  of  the  King  could  not  tolerate  all 
this  adulation,  and  yet  he  began  to  entertain 
the  most  inordinate  ideas  of  what  was  due  to  his 
royal  dignity. 

The  assumed  unfaithfulness  of  his  future  Queen 
was  a  trial  of  indescribable  bitterness  to  him,  to 
his  eyes  she  was  no  more  than  a  despicable 
hypocrite.  He  destroyed  with  his  own  hands 
the  entire  issue  of  her  portraits  that  were  to  have 
been  scattered  among  the  people,  and  threw  her 
bust  out  of  a  window  to  hear  it  crash  to  atoms 
among  the  stones  of  the  castle  grounds. 


160  EMPRESS  ELIZABETH 

Rumour  has  said  that  the  Duchess  Sophie  was 
an  innocent  victim  of  intrigues  in  his  own  neigh- 
bourhood ;  be  that  as  it  may,  a  stain  rested  on  her 
name  which  Louis  never  attempted  to  remove. 
The  circumstances  excited  the  greatest  conster- 
nation, and  the  breach  between  the  King  and  Max 
Joseph  remained  unhealed  to  the  last. 

A  sharp  observer  would  have  detected  from  the 
first  days  of  his  reign  that  there  were  many  signs 
of  the  unhealthy  state  of  the  King's  mind,  and 
after  the  breaking  off  of  his  engagement,  he  spent 
his  life  in  complete  solitude.  He  literally 
shunned  the  sight  of  his  fellows,  and  hid  himself 
behind  a  screen  when  he  was  compelled  to 
interview  his  ministers.  The  disappointment 
which  he  believed  he  had  suffered,  filled  his  soul 
with  bitterness  and  distrust,  he  declared  he 
would  not  love  another  woman,  and  that  he 
should  never  marry. 

The  only  member  of  Sophie's  immediate  family 
that  kept  up  any  intercourse  with  him  was  the 
Empress  Elizabeth,  who  was  sincerely  attached 
to  him  until  his  death.  There  was  undoubtedly 
a  strong  mental  similarity  between  these  two,  as 
well  as  a  certain  likeness  in  feature. 

Kings,  emperors,  and  distinguished  statesmen 
visited  his  land,  but  did  not  see  him,  though 


ELIZABETH  AND  LOUIS  II.  161 

when  his  cousin  Elizabeth  paid  her  summer  visit 
to  Feldafing,  he  would  receive  her,  even  at  those 
times  when  he  would  hardly  tolerate  a  single 
human  being  in  his  presence. 

Not  far  from  Feldafing,  in  the  Lake  of 
Starnberg,  lies  the  so-called  "  Rose  Island,"  the 
interior  of  which  is  almost  hidden  even  to  those 
who  row  past  it,  by  the  thick  bushes  and  high 
trees  all  along  its  shores.  According  to  tradition, 
a  heathen  temple  once  stood  on  the  island,  which 
was  converted  into  a  chapel  ;  it  is  certain  that 
Roman  coins  and  ornaments  have  been  discovered 
in  the  neighbourhood  at  a  modern  date,  as  well  as 
the  remains  of  a  lake  village.  The  gardens  were 
laid  out  by  Maximilian  II.,  and  considerably  im- 
proved by  his  son  Louis.  It  is  said  that  16,000 
of  the  loveliest  kinds  of  roses  in  existence  are  to 
be  seen  on  this  island,  the  scent  of  which  is  wafted 
far  away  to  the  remotest  shores  of  the  lake. 

The  Hermitage,  a  little  Italian  villa,  and  a 
gardener's  cottage  are  now  the  only  dwellings  on 
this  island  of  flowers,  which  cluster  so  thickly  that 
it  is  almost  impossible  to  find  the  tiny  quay  at 
which  the  King  landed  from  his  steam  yacht 
"Tristan."  It  was  here  that  this  mythical 
sovereign  had  collected  the  works  of  his  favourite 

authors,  here  that  he  dreamt  and  ruminated,  and 

u 


ELIZABETH 

spent  a  few  of  his  happiest  days.  Then  it  was 
here  that  he  received  his  cousin  Elizabeth,  when 
the  two  talked  without  fear  of  interruption  of  the 
topics  that  most  deeply  interested  them  both. 

Who  will  dare  to  lay  his  finger  on  the  spot  and 
say  where  reason  ceased  and  madness  took  its 
rise  in  these  two  human  beings  ? 

"  I  am  inclined  to  believe,"  the  Empress 
remarked  on  one  occasion,  when  Hamlet  was 
under  discussion,  "that  men  who  are  considered 
mad  are  in  reality  the  absolutely  clever  ones." 

The  whole  of  Europe  was  aware  of  the  whims 
of  King  Louis,  his  debts,  his  repugnance  to 
women,  and  his  remarkable  attachment  to  a  few 
men.  The  universal  verdict  was  that  he  was 
insane,  which  was  adopted  as  the  general  opinion 
in  his  own  country,  and  led  to  his  deposition  in 
1886,  when  he  was  sent  to  the  Castle  of  Berg,  in 
charge  of  his  physician,  Dr.  Gudden. 

One  evening  in  June,  the  two  went  out  together, 
and  as  they  did  not  return,  they  were  sought  for, 
when  both  bodies  were  eventually  found v  in  the 
waters  of  the  lake. 

It  is  reported  that  the  Empress  of  Austria  em- 
phatically disapproved  of  her  cousin  being  treated 
as  insane,  and  that  Francis  Joseph  had  promised 
at  her  urgent  request  to  do  everything  that  lay  in 


ELIZABETH  AND  LOUIS  II.  163 

his  power  to  get  his  deposition  as  reigning 
sovereign  converted  into  a  temporary  measure. 

At  the  time  of  the  awful  catastrophe,  Elizabeth 
was  at  Feldafing,  as  usual  at  this  season  of  the 
year.  The  King's  tragic  end  made  an  indelible 
impression  upon  her,  and  she  hastened  at  once  to 
the  room  where  his  body  had  been  laid,  with  strict 
orders  that  she  was  to  be  left  alone.  When  the 
door  was  at  length  opened  from  the  outside,  she 
was  found  on  the  floor  in  a  faint,  from  which  it 
was  difficult  to  recall  her  to  consciousness,  and 
her  mind  for  the  first  few  minutes  still  remained 
completely  clouded. 

"Take  the  King  out  of  the  vault,"  she  madly 
shrieked,  "he  is  not  dead,  he  only  feigns  death 
that  he  may  be  at  peace,  without  tormentors." 

"  Have  you  never  seen  a  corpse  ?  "  she  asked 
one  day  of  Dr.  Christomanos.  "  The  face  of  the 
dead  always  wears  an  expression  of  pain  and 
scorn.  It  is  the  sign  of  conquest  over  life  that 
has  been  so  burdensome,  and  has  at  length  been 
overcome  !  " 

Louis  II.  lay  in  state  in  the  Royal  Castle  at 
Munich  ;  wreaths  were  literally  piled  up  around 
him,  but  only  one  single  flower  rested  on  his 
breast,  a  spray  of  jessamine,  the  last  gift  of 
Elizabeth  to  her  friend  and  relation. 


164  EMPRESS  ELIZABETH 

There  had  been  an  understanding  between 
them  that  they  should  both  arrive  at  the  Rose 
Island  at  the  same  appointed  hour;  but  if  anything 
intervened  to  prevent  one  of  them  from  coming, 
the  other  was  to  write  a  note  and  place  it  in  a 
drawer  of  the  writing-table,  of  which  they  two 
alone  had  a  key.  When  looking  over  the  King's 
effects,  a  letter  was  found  in  this  drawer  with  the 
inscription  :  "From  the  dove  to  the  eagle,"  which 
were  the  names  used  by  the  Empress  and  the 
King  in  their  romantic  intercourse. 

Elizabeth  spept  many  weeks  in  lonely  sorrow 
for  her  cousin's  death,  alternating  between  the 
hope  that  he  had  not  been  insane,  and  the  fear 
lest  the  malady  of  her  race  should  attack  herself. 
This  proved  the  last  of  her  summer  visits  to 
Feldafing.  Her  brother  the  doctor,  Duke 
Charles  Theodore,  endeavoured  to  persuade  her 
to  join  him  at  Tegernsee,*  where  he  had  his 
general  and  ophthalmic  hospitals,  and  she  tried  the 
plan  one  year,  but  only  for  a  very  short  time. 
Her  aged  parents  and  her  daughter  Gisela  saw 
very  little  of  her  after  the  death  of  Loius,  but 

*  The  imposing  Schloss,  formerly  a  Benedictine  Abbey,  founded 
in  719  and  suppressed  1804,  was  erected  in  the  eighteenth  century. 
In  the  centre  is  the  church.  The  south  wing,  fitted' up  by  Max 
Joseph  of  Bavaria,  now  belongs  to  Duke  Charles  ^Theodore.  The 
north  wing  contains  an  extensive  brewery. 


ELIZABETH  AND  LOUIS  II.  165 

whenever  she  was  in  Munich,  she  never  failed  to 
go  down  into  the  royal  vault  and  linger  in  silent 
prayer  by  the  coffin  of  her  unhappy  cousin. 


CHAPTER  XIX 

THE  EMPRESS  ON  HER  TRAVELS 

ENDOWED  with  a  keen  appreciation  of  nature, 
with  an  ardent  desire  of  knowledge,  as  well  as 
impelled  by  innate  nervous  restlessness,  the 
Empress  Elizabeth  spent  the  greater  portion  of 
her  time  in  travelling  from  one  place  to  another, 
frequently  visiting  strange  distant  spots  without 
any  imperial  display,  simply  as  an  ordinary 
intelligent  tourist. 

"We  ought  to  try  and  rescue  a  few  minutes," 
she  used  to  say,  "  in  which  we  can  each,  ac- 
cording to  individual  taste,  live  our  very  own  life. 
I  feel  myself  as  though  born  again,  every  time  I 
can  breathe  an  unknown  air,  and  when  I  am 
quite  by  myself  in  a  lonely  spot,  and  realise  that 
it  has  rarely  been  trodden  by  the  foot  of  man,  I 
feel  that  my  relation  to  nature  here  is  quite 
different  from  what  it  would  be  in  the  company 
of  others.  Life  among  men  gives  us  all  a  uniform 
outer  existence,  combined  with  fellowship  in  our 


THE  EMPRESS  AND  HER  TRAVELS  167 

lower  instincts."  "The  goal  of  our  journey  is 
attractive,  especially  as  we  must  travel  in  order 
to  reach  it,"  she  observed  on  another  occasion, 
"but  if  1  knew  that  I  could  never  leave  a  place 
I  was  in,  it  would  be  hell  to  me;  though  a 
perpetual  paradise  in  itself,  and  the  thought  that 
I  shall  soon  leave  my  temporary  home  touches 
me,  and  makes  me  love  it  the  more.  In  that 
way  I  bury  a  dream  each  time  I  travel,  it 
vanishes  from  my  mind,  and  I  sigh  for  a  fresh 
one." 

Nature  exercised  an  extraordinary  influence 
over  her,  and  the  consciousness  of  its  own 
harmony  raised  her  above  the  moods  and 
conflicts  of  daily  life.  "  The  minimum  of  one's 
time  ought  to  be  spent  indoors,"  she  used  to 
say,  "and  our  homes  ought  to  be  so  arranged 
that  they  can  never  dispel  the  illusions  we  bring 
into  them." 

She  really  preferred  to  contemplate  foreign 
lands  from  the  deck  of  her  yacht,  away  from 
"the  common  herd."  "I  like  to  see  Europe  in 
profile,"  she  is  said  to  have  remarked.  The  sea 
had  a  magnetic  attraction  for  her.  In  her  child- 
hood she  had  wandered  by  the  shore  of  the  deep 
blue  Lake  of  Starnberg  and  rowed  upon  its 
waters,  and  in  her  later  years  this  devotion  to 


1 68  EMPRESS  ELIZABETH 

the  lake  was  transferred  into  enthusiasm  for  the 
sea.  When  she  was  on  her  yacht,  she  would 
pace  up  and  down  the  deck,  hour  after  hour 
quite  alone,  when  nobody  was  allowed  to  ap- 
proach her,  or  in  any  way  disturb  the  current  of 
her  thoughts. 

"The  sea  is  my  father  confessor,"  she  said, 
"  it  restores  my  youth,  for  it  removes  from  one 
all  that  is  not  myself;  all  that  I  know  I  have 
learnt  from  the  sea."  And  on  another  occasion, 
she  remarked  :  "  The  ocean  is  like  a  mighty 
mother,  on  whose  breast  one  can  forget  every- 
thing else."  She  knew  no  fear  at  sea  and 
remained  on  deck  whatever  the  weather  might 
be ;  so  that  while  her  companions  were  suffering 
the  agonies  of  sea-sickness,  she  would  sit  re- 
clining in  her  chair  during  the  severest  storms. 
She  was  rarely  seen  in  the  saloon,  and  only  cared 
to  enjoy  the  roar  of  the  waves  or  the  madness  of 
a  storm. 

The  yacht  "  Miramare,"  on  which  she  sailed 
half  round  the  world,  was  comfortable  and 
elegant,  though  the  furniture,  even  in  the 
Empress's  cabins,  was  covered  with  white  linen 
over  the  silk  upholstery,  but  flowers  were  always 
to  be  seen.  Her  bath-room  was  fitted  up  with 
every  comfort,  and  a  boat,  provided  with  casks, 


THE  EMPRESS  AND  HER  TRA  VELS  169 

was  sent  off  daily  some  distance  from  the  yacht, 
which  went  on  its  way  the  while,  to  bring  in 
clear  sea  water  for  Elizabeth's  use. 

On  the  deck  stood  a  large  circular  glass 
apartment  with  windows  on  every  side,  provided 
with  blue  silk  blinds,  and  a  seat  that  went  the 
whole  way  round.  It  was  here  that  her  hair  was 
dressed  each  morning,  while  she  wrote,  read  or 
listened  to  reading  aloud,  and  during  this  time 
all  the  blinds  were  drawn  down.  Sometimes,  if 
it  rained,  she  occupied  this  glass  room  from 
which,  with  every  blind  drawn  up,  she  had  an 
uninterrupted  view  in  every  direction. 

"  I  am  a  stormy  petrel,"  she  said.  "  I  have 
my  sails  removed  that  I  may  not  lose  one  glimpse 
of  the  angry  billows,  and  every  time  a  fresh  wave 
bursts  over  the  deck,  I  long  to  shout  for  joy." 
Her  especial  domain  was  the  after-deck  and 
the  one  bridge  which  she  had  had  partitioned 
off  with  sailcloth,  so  that  she  could  see  nothing 
of  the  vessel,  only  the  free  expanse  of  the  waves. 
She  had  her  fixed  hours  for  the  bridge  or  the 
after-deck  and  spent  the  morning  on  the  former, 
the  afternoon  on  the  latter,  returning  to  the 
bridge  in  the  evening  when  the  sailcloth  was 
removed,  and  the  crew  were  bound  to  render 
themselves  practically  invisible. 


i yo  EMPRESS  ELIZABETH 

"  I  want  to  enjoy  life  on  board  as  fully  and 
as  long  as  possible,"  she  said,  "it  is  like  being 
on  an  island  from  which  all  worries  and  fretting 
intercourse  are  banished.  It  is  an  ideal  existence 
without  desires  and  without  the  sense  of  time, 
which  is  always  painful,  because  it  proclaims 
the  transitoriness  of  life." 

In  foreign  lands  the  Empress  usually  travelled 
as  the  Countess  of  Hohenembs,  the  thirty- 
eighth  of  the  forty-three  titles  to  which,  according 
to  the  Court  Calendar,  her  Majesty  was  entitled. 
She  preferred  to  stay  in  places  sacred  from  the 
invasion  of  "globetrotters;"  she  hated  noise 
and  disturbance,  and  possessed,  in  an  eminent 
degree,  the  innate  dislike  of  true  gentlefolk  to 
court  attention. 

It  was  in  1885  that  she  paid  her  visit  to  the 
East,  when  she  was  the  first  of  the  crowned 
heads  of  Europe  to  become  acquainted  with 
the  site  at  Troy.  Her  endurance  as  a  traveller 
has  hardly  its  equal  among  women,  for  while 
most  of  her  ladies  accompanied  her  on  horseback, 
in  her  repeated  excursions  to  Troy,  the  Empress 
walked  eight  miles  at  a  stretch  in  burning  sun- 
shine, over  wretched  roads  with  very  little  food, 
and  yet  without  any  apparent  ^ign  of  fatigue. 
She  frequently  conversed  with  the  peasants  while 


THE  EMPRESS  AND  HER  TRAVELS  171 

in  the  East,  and  without  an  interpreter,  as  most 
of  them  understood  Greek,  which  she  herself 
spoke  with  great  fluency. 

She  also  travelled  in  North  Africa,  and  the 
Oriental  towns  she  most  enjoyed  were  Tunis, 
Algiers,  Alexandria  and  Cairo.  But  she  also 
visited  Tlemczen,  the  ancient  capital  of  Algiers, 
and  made  several  excursions  to  the  large 
monastery  of  the  Trappists  at  Statieli,  where 
she  carefully  inspected  the  work  of  the  monks, 
and  never  left  these  silent  men  without  con- 
tributing a  large  sum  of  money  for  the  benefit 
of  the  poor  of  their  district. 

"  There  are  many  people  who  do  not  like  to 
travel  in  these  countries,  because  the  towns  are 
so  dirty,"  she  said,  ''but,  for  my  part,  I  love  the 
East,  and  precisely  in  its  present  picturesque 
condition.  I  do  not  see  the  dust  and  dirt,  and 
am  only  conscious  of  the  inhabitants,  who  are 
a  source  of  real  pleasure  to  me."  "  I  feel  myself 
quite  at  home  in  Cairo,"  she  remarked  on  another 
occasion,  "  in  a  crowd  of  porters  and  donkeys. 
I  am  far  less  oppressed  than  at  a  Court  ball, 
and  almost  as  happy  as  in  a  wood.  Culture  is 
to  be  found  even  in  the  deserts  of  Arabia, 
especially  in  the, south  and  east,  where  civilisation 
has  not  yet  intruded.  Civilisation  is  suggestive 


ijt,  EMPRESS  ELIZABETH 

of  tram-cars,  culture  of  lovely  open  woods ; 
civilisation  tries  to  fetter  every  man,  to  imprison 
him  in  a  cage." 

No  matter  where  she  was  staying,  the  needs 
of  the  poor  were  never  forgotten,  and  her 
generosity  is  remembered  in  many  a  wretched 
hovel  in  Morocco,  Egypt,  and  Tunis,  as  well 
as  in  Greece,  France,  Ireland,  and  Switzer- 
land. 

Her  gifts  were  innumerable,  and  even  the 
station-master  of  little  unimportant  places  through 
which  she  passed,  were  surprised  to  receive  as 
a  souvenir  a  breast-pin,  a  ring,  or  some  other 
valuable  object. 

She  was  a  remarkable  linguist,  for  in  addition 
to  German  and  Hungarian,  she  was  perfectly 
fluent  in  French,  English,  and  Greek,  and  had, 
moreover,  a  knowledge  of  Latin  ;  but  she  did  not 
speak  Italian,  and  had  no  pronounced  affection 
for  Italy  or  its  people. 

"The  Emperor  still  speaks  Italian  very 
correctly,"  she  observed  to  Dr.  Christomanos 
some  years  before  her  death,  "  it  is  the  only  thing 
that  remains  of  our  power  in  Italy  ;  and  it  is 
more  than  we  need !  I  was  obliged  to  learn 
Italian  at  one  time,  but  I  could  not  endure 
the  language,  and  my  efforts  were  in  vain, 


THE  EMPRESS  AND  HER  TRAVELS  173 

Years  before  her  murder  by  an  Italian,  she 
had  been  in  danger  of  her  life  from  one  of  his 
countrymen.  It  was  early  in  the  eighties,  during 
an  exhibition  at  Trieste,  when  an  Italian  threw 
a  bomb  into  a  citadel  where  she  happened  to 
be,  and  several  persons  were  wounded,  but 
Elizabeth  escaped  unhurt. 

About  a  fortnight  after  the  occurrence,  Francis 
Joseph  and  the  Crown  Prince  Rudolph  intended 
to  visit  the  exhibition,  when  the  Empress  decided 
to  accompany  them,  but  as  there  was  every  reason 
to  fear  several  murderous  assaults,  both  her  husband 
and  her  son  earnestly  entreated  her  to  remain  in 
Vienna,  but  she  absolutely  refused  to  accede  to 
their  wishes. 

"If  you  forsee  rough  usage,  the  need  for  me  to 
accompany  you  becomes  but  the  more  imperative," 
she  replied,  "  and  if  a  misfortune  should  occur, 
my  place  is  undoubtedly  by  the  side  of  my  husband 
and  my  son." 

She  was  exposed  to  gross  insult  from  the  Italian 
people  of  the  Lago  di  Garda  a  few  years  before 
her  death,  during  a  steamer  excursion  with  a  few 
ladies  and  gentlemen.  When  the  party  had 
landed  at  a  small  town  on  the  southern  end  of  the 
lake,  the  Austrian  Empress  was  received  with 
howls  and  hisses,  and  the  behaviour  of  the  mob 


174  EMPRESS  ELIZABETH 

finally  became  so  obnoxious,  that  she  and  her 
companions  could  only  beat  a  hasty  retreat  to  the 
shelter  of  the  steamer,  stone  after  stone  being 

hurled  at  the   Empress,  even  after  the  boat  had 

/ 

left  the  shore. 

Whenever  the  incident  was  referred  to  on  her 
return  to  Austria,  she  always  observed  : 

"  That  which  occurred  in  Italy  must  be  allowed 
to  remain  in  Italy." 

On  account  of  her  preference  for  a  retired  life, 
most  people  were  far  better  acquainted  with  the 
appearance  of  the  Archdukes  and  Archduchesses 
than  with  that  of  the  Empress  herself. 

It  happened  that  she  one  day  took  the  train  at 
Modling,  accompanied  only  by  a  lacquey,  whom 
she  sent  to  the  station-master  to  request  him  to 
arrange  for  the  stoppage  of  the  train  at  a  little 
road-side  station  in  the  vicinity  of  Lainz.  While 
the  man  was  talking,  the  train  was  gently  begin- 
ning to  move,  when  Elizabeth  shouted  to  the 
guard. 

"  Tell  that  man  in  a  black  coat  that  he  must  be 
quick." 

"  Be  sharp,  or  your  wife  will  be  off  without 
you  !"  said  the  guard,  who  apparently  believed  that 
the  Empress  was  the  better  half  of  the  lacquey. 


THE  EMPRESS  AND  HER  TRAVELS  175 

She  loved  the  surprises  brought  about  by  her 
incognito,  and  met  with  adventures  on  most  of 
her  travels.  It  was  not  always  easy  to  wear 
the  mask,  in  spite  of  her  subtle  precautions, 
though  she  frequently  spent  days,  even  weeks,  in 
one  of  her  residences,  without  a  suspicion  of  her 
presence  among  the  outer  world.  It  was  no  rare 
occurrence  for  a  crowd  to  stand  round  a  station 
or  a  hotel  in  order  to  catch  a  glimpse  of  her, 
hours  after  her  quiet  arrival  by  quite  another 
route  than  they  had  expected.  During  one  of 
her  visits  to  the  south  of  Austria  she  made  an 
excursion  to  see  an  old  castle  in  the  possession  of 
a  country  nobleman. 

A  gentleman  was  standing  in  the  doorway,  who 
like  so  many  others,  did  not  know  the  Empress, 
of  whom  she  asked  if  it  was  allowed  to  visit  the 
castle,  and  on  his  answering  in  the  affirmative, 
she  entered  with  her  companions.  After  the  lapse 
of  an  hour  her  lady-in-waiting  came  out,  leaving 
Elizabeth  still  in  the  house.  The  gentleman  was 
the  owner  and  was  still  standing  as  before,  when 
he  enquired  if  the  ladies  were  staying  in  the 
neighbourhood,  and  where  they  came  from. 

"  We  belong  to  the  court "  was  the  reply. 
"What  does  the  Empress  look  like?"  he  asked 
further. 


176  EMPRESS  ELIZABETH 

The  Empress  had  in  the  meanwhile  arrived  on 
the  scene,  and  replied. 

"  She  is  not  easy  to  describe ;  you  must  see 
her." 

The  nobleman  rejoined  that  he  had  no  op- 
portunity of  doing  so. 

Elizabeth  smiled,  and  observed  : 

"  Such  a  thing  may  happen  as  a  sight  of  the 
Empress  without  being  aware  of  it." 

She  took  him  for  a  butler,  and  offered  him  a 
coin,  which  he  rejected,  observing  : 

"  You  do  not  appear  to  know  me." 

"  Do  not  be  offended,"  begged  the  Empress, 
adding.  "  As  you  did  not  know  me,  I  may  be 
pardoned  for  not  having  recognized  you" 

In  her  younger  days,  she  frequently  stayed  in 
Scotland  and  Ireland  for  the  pleasure  of  fox- 
hunting, and  it  happened  on  one  occasion  when 
she  was  out  with  the  hounds,  that  the  fox  fled  for 
refuge  into  the  grounds  of  the  Roman  Catholic 
College  at  Maynooth,  where  the  students  were 
just  then  enjoying  a  quarter  of  an  hour's  recreation. 
A  high  wall  encloses  the  space,  but  they  were 
suddenly  startled  by  a  fox  springing  into  their 
midst,  followed  in  a  second  by  several  hounds, 
and  finally  by  an  intrepid  horsewoman. 

The  fox  was  caught,  the  lady  alighted  from  he? 


THE  EMPRESS  AND  HER  TRAVELS  177 

horse,   addressed  herself  to  the  young  men,  and 
begged  for  an  interview  with  their  President. 

As  soon  as  he  appeared,  she  introduced  herself 
as  Elizabeth,  Empress  of  Austria,  and  requested 
to  be  allowed  a  room  where  she  could  dry  her 
habit,  for  in  her  eager  chase  after  the  fox,  she  had 
urged  her  horse  over  a  brook  and  her  skirts  had 
become  literally  wet  through. 

Dr.  Logue,  the  present  Roman  Catholic  Arch- 
bishop of  Armagh,  ordered  a  room  to  be  prepared 
as  quickly  as  possible,  including  a  good  fire. 

It  soon  became  evident  that  the  Empress  was 
far  more  thoroughly  drenched  than  she  had 
thought,  and  that  it  would  be  impossible  to  dry 
her  habit  in  less  than  three  or  four  hours. 

No  women  live  in  the  College,  and  consequently 
there  is  not  a  single  feminine  garment  to  be  had, 
but  Elizabeth  begged  the  President  to  lend  her 
one  of  his  cassocks,  in  which  she  figured  during 
the  drying  of  her  habit.  She  even  invited  her 
host  and  his  masters  to  a  cup  of  tea  in  her  apart- 
ment, when  they  were  all  enraptured  with  her 
charms,  as  well  as  amused  with  her  unique 
costume  and  the  anecdotes  she  told  them  con- 
nected with  her  hunting  and  travelling  experiences. 
She  was  frequently  in  Amsterdam,  where  she 

underwent  the  massage  treatment  of  the  famous 

12 


1 78  EMPRESS  ELIZABETH 

Dr.  Metzger.  One  day  she  went  into  a  toyshop 
and  purchased  a  doll,  observing  as  she  turned  to 
her  lady-in-waiting  : 

"  I  think  my  grand-daughter  will  be  pleased  to 
have  it." 

The  shopman,  who  could  not  conceive  that  this 
slender,  juvenile-looking  lady  could  be  a  grand- 
mother, made  the  remark  : 

"  You  are  not  speaking  seriously  ;  you  cannot 
have  grandchildren." 

"Yes,  I  have  four  grandchildren,"  replied  the 
Empress,  "and  to  prove  the  fact,  I  will  come  in 
again  and  buy  some  toys  for  the  others,  which 
you  can  send  to  my  daughter,  the  Princess  Gisela 
in  Munich." 

The  man  was  abashed  and  begged  pardon  for 
his  rudeness. 

"You  were  not  rude,"  answered  the  Empress, 
"on  the  contrary,  very  polite." 

In  Austria,  she  was  looked  upon  as  somewhat 
eccentric,  because  there,  as  elsewhere,  she  was 
rarely  to  be  seen  in  the  street  without  carrying 
an  open  fan  before  her  face. 

It  happened  one  day  that  a  gamin  snatched  the 
fan  from  her,  and  cried  : 

"  Let  me  see  your  face." 

In  spite  of  the  numerous   uncomfortable   inci- 


THE  EMPRESS  AND  HER  TRA  VELS  179 

dents  that  occurred  through  this  incognito  travel- 
ling, she  could  never  be  induced  to  give  it  up, 
and  became  annoyed  if  her  wishes  were  not 
respected.  In  a  hotel  in  Spain,  she  entered  her 
name  as  "  Madame  Folna  from  Corfu,"  and  to 
one  of  the  waiters  who  addressed  her  as  "  Your 
Highness,"  she  replied  sharply  : 

"  There  are  no  Highnesses  in  my  apartments." 

She  not  infrequently  took  a  journey  in  order 
to  inspect  some  work  of  art  that  had  been  men- 
tioned to  her,  but  on  these  occasions,  she  never 
named  to  her  companions  the  object  of  her 
excursion. 

Her  Greek  teacher,  Professor  Rhousso  Rhous- 
sopoulos,  relates  that  once  during  a  visit  to  Wies- 
baden, where  the  Empress  was  taking  the  waters 
for  sciatica,  she  suddenly  gave  orders  that  he  was 
to  accompany  her  and  her  daughter  Valerie.  It 
was  not  till  they  reached  the  railway  station  that 
he  learnt  they  were  bound  for  Frankfort,  where 
Elizabeth  wished  to  see  Thorwaldsen's  reliefs, 
and  Danecker's  Ariadne  belonging  to  Baron 
Rothschild. 

Luncheon  had  been  ordered  in  the  restaurant 
at  the  Frankfort  station.  The  Empress  was  in 
exuberant  spirits,  and  taking  her  daughter's  arm, 
she  walked  up  and  down  the  platform  and  derived 


i8o  EMPRESS  ELIZABETH 

great  amusement  from  watching  the  varied  life  of 
a  station.  She  was  happy  to  be  quite  unknown, 
took  her  seat  cheerfully  at  table  and  enjoyed  the 
first  course ;  but  unfortunately,  the  second  was 
handed  on  a  gilt  service  and  by  an  increased 
staff  of  waiters.  Her  incognito  had  been  dis- 
covered and  betrayed,  her  good  humour  vanished 
in  a  moment,  and  her  only  thought  was  to  be 
quick  and  leave  as  soon  as  possible.  It  angered 
her  to  be  watched. 

Once  when  Professor  Rhoussopoulos  was  walk- 
ing with  her  in  some  town  of  North  Germany, 
she  suddenly  exclaimed  : 

"  Notice  that  lady  on  the  other  side  of  the 
road,  look,  she  is  staring  at  us ! " 

The  Professor  looked,  and  the  Empress  re- 
peated :  "  She  is  literally  fixing  her  eyes  upon 
me  !  What  do  you  say  to  that  ?  " 

"  I  think,  your  Majesty,  that  it  is  a  bad  habit, 
which  that  lady  possesses,"  replied  the  Professor. 

That  very  minute  the  Empress  ran  across  the 
road,  and  in  a  second  the  lady  and  she  were 
locked  in  each  other's  arms.  It  was  her  sister, 
the  Countess  de  Trani,  who  was  almost  as  de- 
voted to  travelling  as  Elizabeth  herself. 

Wherever  the  Empress  might  be,  she  was  in 
constant  collision  with  the  police  authorities, 


THE  EMPRESS  AMD  HER  TRAVELS  18 1 

whose  duty  it  was  to  watch  over  her  safety. 
Sometimes  she  would  go  considerably  out  of  her 
way  in  order  to  avoid  them,  or  endeavour  to  slip 
away  and  mislead  them  with  false  details  of  her 
plans,  when  nothing  pleased  her  better  than  to 
hear  they  were  off  on  a  wrong  track. 

An  English  journalist  was  one  day  standing  in 
front  of  a  second-hand  bookseller's  shop  in 
Monza,  and  had  been  looking  at  the  volumes 
displayed,  some  three  or  four  minutes,  when  the 
owner  came  out  and  asked  him  to  be  good  enough 
to  pass  on,  as  a  lady  in  the  shop  objected  to  being 
watched.  She  had  taken  him  for  a  policeman  in 
plain  clothes.  The  journalist,  who  naturally 
wished  to  know  who  the  lady  might  be,  took  a 
hasty  glance,  recognised  the  Empress,  and  gave 
his  card  to  the  bookseller,  that  the  august  cus- 
tomer might  be  assured  of  her  error. 

An  hour  later,  he  was  walking  through  the 
park,  when  he  unexpectedly  perceived  the  Em- 
press on  foot  a  few  steps  in  advance.  In  order 
to  avoid  the  former  mistake  of  being  looked  upon 
as  a  policeman,  he  was  on  the  point  of  turning 
down  a  side  avenue,  when  she  beckoned  to  him 
to  approach  nearer. 

With  great  dignity,  but  very  kindly,  she  ex- 
plained that  the  exaggerated  zeal  of  the  police 


182  EMPRESS  ELIZABETH 

was  oppressive  to  her,  and  apologised  for  the 
recent  occurrence  outside  the  bookseller's  shop. 

The  following  day  the  journalist  left  Monza 
for  Milan,  and  on  taking  his  seat  late  in  the  even- 
ing at  a  little  table  in  a  well  known  restaurant,  he 
saw  to  his  intense  astonishment  the  Empress  of 
Austria  quite  alone  at  a  side  table,  without  a 
single  companion,  or  the  least  protection. 

One  of  the  waiters  went  up  to  her  and  said  : — 

"  You  have  not  come  for  a  meal,  Signora?  It 
is  very  late,  and  there  is  nothing  nice  left." 

"  But  I  am  hungry,"  replied  the  Empress,  "  you 
must  bring  me  something." 

The  man  darted  off  into  the  kitchen,  and  re- 
turned after  the  lapse  of  a  few  minutes. 

"There  is  just  one  thing  left,  Signora,"  he 
exclaimed,  "the  very  best  thing  of  all,  you  need 
not  hesitate  to  enjoy  it,  if  /  recommend  it,  for 
I  had  some  myself  only  an  hour  ago,  but  it's 
rather  dear." 

The  Empress  enquired  : — 

"  What  will  this  remarkable  dish  cost  ?  " 

"  Eighty  centesimi,"  replied  the  waiter,  looking 
at  her  rather  anxiously. 

Elizabeth  laughed  merrily. 

"  You  need  not  laugh,  Signora,"  he  continued, 
rather  nettled.  "  There  are  a  good  many  who 


THE  EMPRESS  AND  HER  TRAVELS  183 

think     it     very     dear    and    only    take    a     half 
portion." 

The  Journalist  had  sat  as  still  as  a  mouse, 
hidden  behind  a  large  newspaper,  but  the  Empress 
had  recognised  him,  and  said  with  a  smile  :— 

"  Good-evening !  But  this  must  not  be  re- 
ported in  your  paper  !  " 

In  the  summer  of  1875  sne  rented,  under  an 
assumed  name,  a  gentleman's  residence  in  Nor- 
mandy, and  remained  there  for  some  months, 
enjoying  daily  long  rides  by  the  sea-shore,  and 
astonishing  the  peasants  by  her  intrepidity  and 
the  manner  in  which  she  overcame  every  obstacle. 

One  day  a  gamin  ran  after  her  horse  and 
pelted  it  with  stones  till  the  animal  shied.  The 
case  was  reported  by  some  eye-witnesses,  and 
the  Prefect  of  the  district  called  upon  the  Empress 
to  say  that  the  boy  would  be  punished. 

"  I  thank  you  for  your  trouble,"  she  replied, 
"but  I  lodged  no  complaint,  and  I  do  not  wish 
that  anyone  should  be  punished  on  my  account." 

On  the  occasion  of  a  misfortune  at  sea,  in 
which  many  fishermen  lost  their  lives,  she  was 
the  foremost  in  assisting  the  widows  and  father- 
less, when  the  lavishness  of  her  gifts  attracted 
universal  comment,  and  it  became  impossible  for 
her  to  maintain  her  incognito,  or  escape  the  re- 


t&4  EMPRESS  ELIZABETH 

spectful  demonstrations  of  the  people.  It  annoyed 
her,  and  as  soon  as  her  true  rank  could  no  longer 
be  concealed  she  left  the  place  as  quickly  as 
possible. 

She  was  exceedingly  fond  of  Paris,  and  nearly 
always  stayed  there  on  her  longer  journeys  in 
Europe,  but  only  as  the  Countess  of  Hohenembs, 
never  as  Empress  of  Austria.  After  the 
meeting  with  Napoleon  III.  and  Eugenie  at 
Salzburg  in  1867,  she  was  expected  to  pay  an 
official  return  visit  at  the  Tuileries,  but  she  allowed 
the  Emperor  to  go  alone. 

She  was  however  a  frequent  visitor  to  Paris 
under  the  Empire  in  order  to  meet  her  sisters, 
the  ex-Queen  of  Naples,  the  Countess  de  Trani 
and  the  Duchess  of  Alen^on,  when  she  enjoyed 
riding  in  the  Bois  de  Boulogne,  as  well  as  walk- 
ing on  the  boulevards,  where  she  could  lose  her- 
self among  the  crowd  when  she  chose. 

It  occurred  to  her  one  day  that  it  would  be  nice 
to  go  in  an  omnibus.  When  she  was  asked  for 
her  fare,  she  gave  the  conductor  two  gold  pieces, 
and  her  lavishness  naturally  roused  the  amaze- 
ment of  the  thrifty  Parisians.  She  was  recognised, 
and  the  excitement  of  her  fellow-travellers  became 
so  oppressive,  that  she  left  the  vehicle  as  soon  as 
she  could,  and  rushed  into  the  nearest  house  to 


EMPRESS  AMD  HER  TRA  VELS        185 

perfect  strangers,  to  wait  until  the  dispersion  of 
the  crowd  which  had  gathered  round  her.  After 
this  she  drove  back  to  her  hotel  in  a  closed 
carriage  with  the  blinds  drawn  down,  and  vowed 
that  this  should  be  the  first  and  last  time  of 
travelling  in  an  omnibus  in  a  capital  city. 

She  was  an  ardent  admirer  of  Napoleon  the 
Great,  and  often  exclaimed  : 

"  What  a  man  !  but  such  a  pity  that  he  aspired 
to  an  Imperial  crown."  Her  interest  even  urged 
her  to  visit  Ajaccio  and  the  home  of  the 
Bonapartes. 

She  was  a  more  frequent  guest  than  ever  in  the 
French  capital  after  the  war  in  1870,  when 
she  deeply  deplored  the  destruction  of  many 
architectural  master-pieces  at  the  hands  of  the 
communists. 

The  office  of  the  policeman  whose  duty  it  was 
to  watch  over  her  was  no  sinecure.  She  often 
rose  at  four  o'clock  and  went  off  alone  to  the 
Bois  de  Boulogne,  when  the  detectives  who  had 
been  watching  all  night  about  her  hotel,  had  to 
hurry  after  her  as  quickly  as  they  could.  In  her 
personal  intercourse  with  them  she  was  amiability 
itself,  but  inconceivably  imprudent  and  absolutely 
intractable  with  reference  to>  every  precaution  for 
her  safety.  The  Emperor  and  Empress  once 


186  EMPRESS  ELIZABETH 

spent  a  short  time  together  at  Mentone,  and  one 
day  Elizabeth  summoned  the  police  inspector  and 
told  him  that  it  was  a  great  annoyance  to  her  that 
his  men  were  always  at  her  heels  when  she  went 
for  a  walk,  and  she  demanded  emphatically  that 
this  surveillance  should  cease.  The  inspector 
replied  that  he  was  compelled  to  fulfil  his  duty, 
and  if  this  displeased  her  Majesty,  there  was  no 
course  left  to  him  but  to  resign  his  office. 

"  I  wish  you  to  remain  in  Mentone,"  rejoined 
the  Empress,  "  but  direct  all  your  attention  to 
my  husband,  whose  life  is  essential  to  his  subjects. 
As  for  myself — what  am  I  ?  A  stranger  who 
may  pass  unnoticed !  I  am  willing  to  be  the 
victim  of  a  misfortune  which  your  watchfulness 
cannot  foresee.  You  cannot  prevent  a  tile  from 
falling  and  injuring  me,  nor  a  boulder  from  giving 
way  on  my  mountain  rambles." 


CHAPTER   XX 

THE   EMPRESS   AND   LITERATURE 

ELIZABETH  was  extremely  musical,  she  sang  well, 
and  we  remember  that  her  father  had  trained  her 
to  be  a  good  performer  on  the  zither.  She 
became  a  pupil  of  Liszt  after  her  marriage,  and 
frequently  took  part  in  court  concerts  for  charit- 
able objects,  either  as  a  pianist  or  a  zither-player. 

Her  favourite  composers  were  Rubinstein, 
Chopin,  and  Wagner,  and  to  this  last  she  proved 
a  true  friend  in  need  by  sending  him  a  substantial 
sum  of  money  in  a  time  of  dire  necessity  ;  and 
after  his  death  she  attended  the  Wagner  per- 
formances in  Bayreuth,  but  in  strict  incognito. 

She  also  evinced  great  interest  in  art,  and 
placed  herself  on  a  friendly  footing  with  Munkacsy 
and  Makart,  in  whose  studios  she  spent  many 
happy  hours. 

In  her  younger  days  she  derived  pleasure  from 
the  performances  in  the  Hofburg  Theatre,  but 
afterwards  she  wearied  of  them,  and  possibly  like 


i82  EAfPRESS  ELIZABETH 

her  royal  cousin  of  Bavaria,  she  would  have  pre- 
ferred the  acting  to  have  been  for  herself  alone. 
Her  interest,  however,  in  individual  actors  did 
not  flag,  and  towards  the  close  of  the  eighties  she 
arrived  one  day  unexpectedly  at  the  lunatic  asylum 
in  Vienna  to  enquire  after  an  actor  whose  mind 
had  hopelessly  given  way.  And  the  well-known 
tragedian,  Ferdinand  Bonn,  who  settled  in  Vienna 
a  few  years  before  the  death  of  the  Empress,  has 
recently  related  the  following :  He  had  been 
exposed  to  unjust  accusations  with  reference  to 
both  his  artistic  and  his  private  life,  and  was  lead- 
ing a  retired  misanthropical  sort  of  existence  at 
Hietzing,  on  the  remotest  outskirts  of  Vienna, 
when  his  servant  one  morning  announced  that  a 
Frau  Elizabeth  wished  to  see  him. 

Greatly  annoyed,  he  shouted  loud  enough  to  be 
heard  through  the  open  window  : 

"  There  is  no  such  person  as  Frau  Elizabeth  ! 
I  am  not  at  home." 

The  servant  left  the  room  to  convey  his 
master's  message,  and  at  the  same  moment  the 
actor  took  a  cautious  peep,  when  he  saw  a  lady 
of  slight  figure,  dressed  in  black,  standing  in 
the  garden,  with  two  companions.  He  rapidly 
descended  the  steps  from  the  verandah,  when  the 
ladies  came  forward,  and  he  stammered  in  painful 


THE  EMPRESS  AND  LITERATURE  189 

confusion  :  "  Forgive  me,  are  you  really  the 
Empress?" 

It  was  the  Empress  Elizabeth,  who  then  ac- 
companied him  indoors,  sympathised  with  him  in 
the  persecution  to  which  he  had  been  subjected, 
contemplated  his  poorly  furnished  home,  and  stood 
for  some  minutes  before  a  painting  representing 
the  actor  in  the  character  of  Hamlet. 

"What  the  Empress,  who  herself  had  suffered 
so  keenly,  said  to  me,  seemed  to  reconcile  me  to 
the  contumelous  treatment  to  which  I  had  been 
exposed,"  the  actor  explained,  "  I  shall  never 
forget  her  words,  they  will  recur  to  my  mind,  even 
in  the  hour  of  death." 

High-spirited  and  intelligent  as  she  was,  she 
had  her  own  decided  tastes  in  art  and  poetry, 
which  were  rarely  in  touch  with  those  of  the 
Court.  Her  admiraiton  for  all  that  is  truly  great, 
had  become  second  nature  to  her,  and  commanded 
homage  in  whatever  form  it  presented  itself  before 
her. 

We  noticed  in  a  previous  chapter  that  it  was 
during  her  communing  with  Nature  in  Madeira 
and  Corfu,  that  she  first  acquired  a  love  of  reading, 
and  from  that  time,  the  companionship  of  great 
minds  in  the  literature  of  the  world  became  a 
refreshment  that  compensated  for  the  daily  trials 


igo  EMPRESS  ELIZABETH 

of  her  life,  as  well  as  a  corrective  against  the 
depression  in  which  sorrowful  experiences  and  her 
hereditary  tendency  threatened  to  engulf  her 
again  and  again. 

Few  people  have  better  grasped  the  economy 
of  time,  in  this  respect,  than  the  Empress 
Elizabeth.  She  was  rarely  to  be  seen  without 
a  book  in  her  hand,  and  she  would  spend  hours 
at  a  time,  walking  or  sitting  in  park  and  garden, 
deeply  engrossed  in  reading. 

Clever  men  who  made  her  acquaintance  were 
amazed  at  her  store  of  information,  and  the 
scholar  Hasenauer  remarked :  "  One  needs  a 
thorough  knowledge  of  history,  art  and  science 
to  be  able  to  converse  with  her,  her  learning  is 
astonishing." 

She  has  translated  all  the  works  of  Schopen- 
hauer with  remarkable  accuracy  into  modern 
Greek,  and  studied  Voltaire  and  Rousseau  with 
keen  appreciation.  She,  who  herself  had  acquired 
so  much,  and  whose  thirst  for  information  never 
seemed  quenched,  often  observed  that  she  under- 
stood Rousseau's  longing  to  return  to  Nature, 
and  wished  as  he  did,  that  all  superfluous  know- 
ledge could  be  scattered  to  the  winds.  It  is 
universally  acknowledged  that  her  strong  primary 
admiration  for  literature  was  awakened  by 


THE  EMPRESS  AND  LITERATURE  191 

Heinrich  Heine,  whose  poetry  was  so  dear  to  her. 
A  volume  of  his  works  came  into  her  hands  in  the 
early  days  of  her  married  life,  and  simply  fascin- 
ated her  by  the  outpouring  of  suffering  and  dis- 
appointment which  she  herself  had  experienced  ; 
and  as  years  went  by,  she  must  have  read  every 
poem  from  his  pen.  His  "  Reisebilder "  had  a 
permanent  attraction  for  the  Empress  whose  love 
of  travel  was  so  keen,  and  she  turned  to  them 
again  and  again.  What  she  especially  admired 
in  Heine,  and  that  which  secured  her  love  for  his 
works,  was  his  intense  sincerity. 

"  Heine  is  different  from  most  other  authors, 
because  he  despises  hypocrisy,"  she  once  wrote  ; 
"  he  always  shows  himself  as  he  is,  with  the 
inherent  good  and  frailty  of  humanity." 

She  once  remarked  to  a  German  writer  who 
had  discovered  the  manuscript  of  some  satirical 
poems  of  his,  which  he  hesitated  to  publish,  on 
account  of  their  political  opinions  : 

"  Heinrich  Heine's  readers  are  not  confined  to 
one  nation,  but  belong  to  every  race,  who  have  a 
right  to  know  all  the  works  of  a  poet  with  whom 
no  other  can  be  compared." 

She  wished  to  see  some  public  recognition  of 
his  worth,  and  a  committee  was  at  once  formed 
with  the  object  of  erecting  his  statue  in  a  German 


192  EMPRESS  ELIZABETH 

town,  and  the  plan  seemed  likely  to  be  effectively 
carried  out,  especially  as  the  Empress  of  Austria 
headed  the  list  of  subscribers  with  a  strikingly 
large  amount. 

But  in  the  meantime  a  note  was  received  from 
the  German  Chancellor,  addressed  to  the  Cabinet 
in  Vienna,  in  which  Bismarck  expressed  his 
astonishment  that  the  Empress  of  a  friendly 
adjoining  State  should  do  homage  to  a  poet  who 
had  calumniated  the  Hohenzollerns. 

Francis  Joseph  and  Elizabeth  had  lived  for 
years  as  good  comrades,  who  respected  each 
other's  tastes  and  sympathies  without  disagree- 
ment ;  but,  in  view  of  the  Triple  Alliance,  *  the 
Emperor  was  for  once  compelled  to  beg  his 
consort  to  yield  to  the  Iron  Chancellor,  and  allow 
her  name  to  be  erased  from  the  subscription  list 
for  the  Heine  memorial. 

The  Empress  felt  that  she  must  submit,  and 
thanks  to  the  interference  of  Bismarck,  the  satis- 
faction of  erecting  a  statue  to  Heine  in  Germany 
is  still  reserved  for  the  future. 

But  Elizabeth  was  determined,  and  had  her 
revenge.  Having  heard  that  the  Danish  sculptor. 
Hasselriis  had  made  a  cast  of  her  favourite  poet, 

*Between  Germany,  Austria,  and  Italy,  adopted  in  1883. 


THE  EMPRESS  AND  LITERATURE  193 

she  commissioned  him  to  execute  it  for  her  in 
marble,  and  had  it  placed  in  the  grounds  of  her 
Castle  at  Corfu.  The  pleasant  relations  of  the 
Hohenzollerns  towards  Austria  were  not  disturbed 
by  the  incident,  and  the  present  Emperor  of 
Germany,  her  son's  intimate  friend,  always  paid 
Elizabeth  the  most  marked  respect. 

He  never  travelled  through  Austria,  or  visited 
any  German  watering-place  where  she  might  be, 
without  calling  upon  her  with  the  Empress,  and 
showing  her  the  attention  which  she  valued ; 
indeed  William  II.  is  said  to  have  remarked  that 
Elizabeth  of  Austria- Hungary  was  the  most 
intellectual  woman  he  had  ever  met. 

The  feeling  was  hardly  reciprocal.  It  was 
Heine's  cry  of  pain  and  his  scoffs  at  the  heart- 
rending illusions  of  life  that  had  first  struck  a 
responsive  chord  in  the  heart  of  Elizabeth,  though 
it  was  not  until  after  the  victory  of  the  Prussians 
over  the  Austrians  that  the  world  at  large  had 
understood  her  admiration  for  the  poet,  whose  un- 
disguised hatred  of  the  Prussians,  biting  sarcasms 
on  their  spiked  helmets  and  desire  to  make  the 
Prussian  eagle  a  butt  for  the  sharpshooters  of  the 
Rhine,  undoubtedly  found  an  echo  in  her  mind. 

She  had  acquired  a  personal  interest  in  Heine, 
which   she  evinced   in  many  ways,  and  she  fre- 

13 


194  EMPRESS  ELIZABETH 

quently  had  wreaths  placed  on  his  grave,  with 
broad  streamers  bearing  the  inscription  :  "  From 
the  Empress  Elizabeth  to  her  favourite  poet." 

During  her  constant  visits  to  Paris,  she  never 
failed  to  make  a  pilgrimage  to  Montmartre  and 
decorate  his  grave  with  her  own  hands. 

She  says  in  a  poem,  in  which  she  recalls  these 
visits  to  the  cemetery  : — 

"  I  thought  of  him  for  whom  I  wept 

Whom  I  had  never  seen, 

'Twas  but  his  dust  o'er  which  I  knelt, 

His  soul  in  realms  serene, 

Long  since  has  dwelt  with  Him  who  bade 

The  weary  and  oppressed, 

Lay  down  their  burdens  at  His  feet, 

With  Him  for  ever  rest."* 

In  order  to  gain  a  closer  acquaintance  with  the 
poet  than  is  possible  from  any  biography,  she 
went  to  visit  his  sister  Frau  Charlotte  von  Embden 
in  Hamburg,  then  in  her  ninety-first  year. 

"  She  did  not  sit  with  me  like  an  Empress,  but 
like  a  dear  daughter,"  the  old  lady  remarked,  and 
added  that  these  conversations  with  Elizabeth 
were  the  most  interesting  she  had  had  in  the 
whole  course  of  her  long  life. 

*  Translated  from  the  Norwegian  version. 


THE  EMPRESS  AND  LITERATURE  195 

"  No  critic  and  no  biographer  has  understood 
my  brother  half  so  accurately  as  the  Empress 
Elizabeth,"  she  used  to  say. 

Prince  Rudolph  had  set  enquiries  on  foot  as  to 
where  the  manuscripts  of  Heine's  "  Buch  der 
Lieder  "  could  be  obtained,  and  finally  presented 
it  to  his  mother ;  while,  as  an  expression  of  her 
gratitude,  Frau  von  Embden  gave  her  a  collection 
of  letters  from  the  deceased  poet,  of  too  intimate 
a  nature  to  be  offered  to  the  general  public. 

It  requires  an  unusually  poetic  temperament  to 
be  able  to  dwell  with  the  intense  interest  of  Eliza- 
beth upon  poets  and  their  creations  ;  and  yet  she 
did  not  care  for  a  great  number  of  books,  but 
was  content  to  read  and  ponder  those  that  most 
deeply  affected  her. 

Heine  was  undoubtedly  the  only  German  poet 
whom  she  understood  and  appreciated  :  neither 
Goethe  nor  Schiller  could  charm  her,  or  appeal  to 
either  heart  or  intellect.  Marie  Valerie,  who 
admired  Victor  Scheffel,  drew  the  attention  of  her 
mother  to  his  works,  but  he.  had  a  far  greater 
fascination  for  the  young  Archduchess  than  for 
the  Empress,  who  had  had  time  for  more  reflec- 
tion and  experience  in  life's  ways. 

She  took  no  pleasure  in  modern  French  poetry, 
though  she  thought  highly  of  Lamartine ;  and 


IQ6  EMPRESS  ELIZABETH 

among  English  poets  her  especial  favourites  were 
Shakespeare  and  Byron.  Her  interest  in  Shakes- 
peare fell  but  little  short  of  her  admiration  for 
Heine,  and  it  is  said  that  she  made  some  excellent 
translations  of  several  of  his  dramas  and  learnt 
whole  scenes  by  heart.  Her  favourites  were 
Hamlet  and  The  Midsummer  Night's  Dream.  A 
picture  of  Titania  and  the  ass's  head  was  to  be 
found  in  every  one  of  her  residences,  and  she 
used  to  say  :  "  We  are  all  given  to  caress  the  ass's 
head  of  our  illusions." 

During  the  incessant  travelling  which  occupied 
the  greatest  part  of  her  life,  she  never  omitted  to 
send  long  letters  to  her  husband  and  children, 
at  least  once  a  week,  sometimes  oftener ;  but 
instead  of  descriptions  of  her  mode  of  life  or  of 
her  personal  thoughts,  the  large  square  envelopes 
sometimes  contained  original  poems,  or  perhaps 
the  translation  of  a  scene  or  two  from  Shakespeare. 
She  wrote  capital  accounts  of  her  travels  and 
illustrated  them  with  hundreds  of  sketches  taken 
in  the  places  that  she  visited.  Her  literary  works, 
either  in  the  form  of  diaries,  which  she  kept  for 
many  years,  or  letters  to  her  family,  are  preserved 
in  the  H  of  burg. 

She  never  thought  of  publishing  any  of  her 
writings,  and  read  or  used  her  pen  solely  for 


THE  EMPRESS  AND  LITERATURE  197 

entertainment  or  enjoyment,  without  a  spark  of 
ambition  for  literary  renown,  so  that  very  few  of 
her  poems  have  become  known  to  the  public.  The 
following  lines,  inscribed  under  a  Madonna  in  the 
vicinity  of  Ischl,  are  the  best  known,  although 
they  are  read  by  the  majority  without  a  suspicion 
that  they  were  written  by  the  Empress  Elizabeth. 

"  O,  breite  deine  Arme  aus, 
Maria  die  wir  grussen  ! 
Leg'  schiitzend  sie  auf  dieses  Haus, 
Im  Thai,  zu  deinen  Fussen  ! 
O,  segne  dieses  kleine  Nest, 
Mag  rings  der  Sturm  auch  wuthen  ! 
In  deinem  Schutze  steht  es  fest 
Voll  Gnaden  wirst  Du's  hiiten." 

(Stretch  out  thy  loving  arms, 

O  Mary  whom  we  greet, 
Lay  them  in  blessing  on  this  home 

Which  nestles  at  thy  feet ; 
This  valley  bless,  this  sheltered  spot, 

Though  tempests  rage  elsewhere, 
Tempest  and  storm  can  touch  it  not 

Fenced  by  thy  loving  care) 

A  few  years  before  her  death  she  visited 
Mehadia,  a  small  town  in  the  south-east  of 
Hungary,*  for  the  use  of  the  far-famed  Baths  of 
Hercules. 

*  About  half  an  hour's  railway  journey  from  Orsova. 


198  EMPRESS  ELIZABETH 

Here  she  found  a  shepherd's  hut  built  on  one 
of  the  lofty  hills  that  overlook  the  Baths,  and  in 
one  of  her  frequent  visits  to  the  solitude,  she 
wrote  in  Hungarian,  with  her  pencil  on  the  table, 
lines  that  can  only  have  a  bare  equivalent  in  the 
following  : 

All  is  fleeting  here  below, 

Life  but  means  a  journey  on — 
Eternal  nature  thou  dost  know 

Steadfast  existence,  changes  none ; 
Happy  he  who  lives  in  thee, 

Thou  wilt  fill  his  soul  with  joy ; 
Peace  I  pray  thee  grant  to  me 

That  only  peace  without  alloy.*  * 

*  *  Translated  from  the  Norwegian  version. 


CHAPTER  XXI 

SICKNESS— DAILY    LIFE   OF   THE  EMPRESS — HER    MANNER   TOWARDS  HER 
HOUSEHOLD  AND  THE  LADIES  OF  HER  COURT 

WE  recall  the  severe  illness  of  the  Empress  when 
quite  a  young  woman,  soon  after  the  birth  of  her 
only  son,  when  careful  nursing  and  a  repeated 
sojourn  in  genial  southern  air,  saved  her  life  and 
enabled  her  to  return  home  after  some  years' 
travelling,  strong  in  health  and  brilliant  in  beauty. 
But  towards  the  end  of  the  seventies,  she  was 
attacked  by  the  painful  complaint  known  at  the 
present  day  by  the  modern  name  of  neurasthenia. 
It  was  the  hereditary  malady  of  the  Wittelsbachs 
in  an  acute  degree,  and  had  manifested  itself  in 
one  generation  after  another  by  a  dislike  to 
intercourse  with  mankind,  in  conjunction  with  the 
strangest  caprices  ;  and  as  it  is  a  fact  that  where 
nerve  trouble  is  inherited  it  is  likely  to  increase  in 
intensity,  Elizabeth's  craving  for  solitude,  her 
repugnance  to  mix  with  others,  her  restlessness 
and  continual  change  of  residence,  may  certainly 
be  looked  upon  as  at  least  partially  inherited. 


166  EMPRESS  ELIZABETH 

She  was  far  more  suffering  than  was  generally 
supposed,  but  organic  disorders,  neuritis  and 
several  serious  illnesses  had  rendered  her  life  a 
perfect  martyrdom  for  years.  Acute  rheumatism 
in  her  knees  in  the  early  eighties  had  compelled 
her  to  give  up  riding,  which  was  a  grief  to  her, 
and  as  long  as  she  lived  she  was  troubled  with 
sciatica,  indeed,  in  the  latter  years  of  her  life,  her 
sufferings  were  at  times  so  excruciating  that  her 
physician  declared  it  needed  almost  superhuman 
patience  to  bear  the  attacks  without  shrieking. 
But  Elizabeth  had  trained  her  body  to  submit, 
she  bore  pain  heroically,  and  when  possible  sought 
for  compensation  in  the  loss  of  her  rides  by 
mountain  climbing  and  ceaseless  walking. 

These  exhausting  excursions  in  wood  and  field 
conveyed  a  totally  false  impression  of  her  physical 
powers  to  outsiders,  as  even  experienced  Alpine 
guides  frequently  found  it  difficult  to  follow  her 
without  fatigue.  It  is  obvious  that  her  light  step 
carried  her  more  easily  over  the  ground  than 
most,  and  besides,  her  exaggerated  exertion  was 
in  a  measure  due  to  the  excited  condition  of  her 
nerves.  She  was  a  martyr  to  insomnia,  and 
therefore  sought  for  physical  fatigue  in  the  hope 
of  obtaining  the  needed  nightly  rest  for  which  she 
craved. 


DAIL  y  LIFE  Of  THE  EMPRESS  201 

The  Empress  was  accustomed  to  the  simplest 
diet  and  had  a  very  small  appetite.  The 
pleasures  of  the  table  were  unknown  to  her,  or  at 
all  events,  she  did  not  appeciate  them.  She 
rarely  ate  any  but  cold  dishes,  and  even  at  state 
banquets  she  was  satisfied  with  a  couple  of  slices 
of  wheaten  bread,  a  cup  of  bouillon  and  some 
fruit. 

In  ordinary  life  as  well  as  during  her  travels, 
she  frequently  went  without  real  dinner,  when 
her  refreshment  consisted  mainly  of  a  glass  of 
milk,  a  piece  of  bread  and  a  couple  of  biscuits. 
She  was  particularly  fond  of  sweet  things  and  was 
never  without  her  box  of  bon-bons.  She  abhorred 
all  stimulant,  and  never  touched  wine  of  any  sort, 
even  at  gala  dinners,  and  could  hardly  be  per- 
suaded to  take  it,  when  it  had  been  prescribed  as 
necessary. 

She  had  but  scant  faith  in  the  science  of 
medicine  and  preferred  to  seek  alleviation  from 
pain  through  her  own  remedies.  She  would  live 
for  weeks  and  months  at  a  time  upon  nothing  but 
milk,  or  put  herself  on  an  orange  diet  and  adhere 
to  it  most  rigidly.  She  had  a  morbid  fear  of 
becoming  stout,  partly  because  she  was  proud  of 
her  slender  figure,  partly  because  she  considered 
it  better  for  her  health  to  remain  thin,  and  for 


262  EMPRESS  ELIZABETH 

this  reason  she  was  weighed  each  day.  If  by 
chance  she  was  a  little  heavier  than  usual,  she  at 
once  took  nothing-  but  oranges,  until  she  had 
become  as  slim  as  she  desired. 

The  doctors  were  naturally  annoyed  that  she 
paid  so  little  heed  to  their  advice,  and  maintained 
that  it  was  unjustifiable  on  her  part  to  restrict 
herself  to  such  meagre  fare,  while  the  pronounced 
anaemia  of  her  later  years  was  the  result  of  the 
self-chosen  regime  to  which  she  had  accustomed 
herself. 

But  little  as  Elizabeth  personally  cared  for 
material  enjoyment,  she  was  extremely  particular 
when  with  the  Emperor,  about  the  menu,  and 
the  chef  had  to  read  his  list  to  her  each  morning 
while  she  criticised  it,  or  even  suggested  an 
alteration. 

No  table  could  possibly  be  more  tastefully 
ordered  then  that  of  the  Austrian  Court  when 
the  Empress  was  present,  and  it  was  she  who 
provided  the  most  costly  services  of  gold,  silver, 
and  porcelain  for  all  the  Imperial  Castles  ;  and 
yet  they  were  but  rarely  used,  owing  to  her 
preference  for  a  retired  life. 

Maria  Theresa  had  sixteen  children,  and  her 
son  Leopold  II.  had  had  seventeen,  which 
accounts  for  the  numerous  members  of  the 


bAILY  LIFE  OF  THE  EMPRESS  263 

Austrian  Imperial  family ;  and  in  addition  a 
great  many  other  Princes  were  resident  in 
Vienna,  more  or  less  connected  with  the  house 
of  Habsburg- Lorraine.  But  except  on  a  few 
occasions  in  the  course  of  the  Winter,  when  the 
Archdukes  and  Archduchesses  were  invited,  the 
more  distant  relatives  never  saw  either  Francis 
Joseph  or  Elizabeth. 

Immersed  in  work,  and  in  his  elder  years 
caring  for  no  recreation  beyond  his  hunting 
excursions,  the  Emperor  led  as  retired  a  life  as 
his  solitude-loving  consort.* 

When  he  visited  Elizabeth,  or  she  stayed  for  a 
time  in  one  of  the  Imperial  residences  in  order  to 
be  with  him  and  their  children,  she  did  all  that 
lay  in  her  power  to  make  the  meeting  a  happy 


* "  There  is  an  article  on  '  Imperial  Sportsmen '  in  Pearson's 
Magazine  (October,  1900)  and  from  it  we  take  the  following 
extract  :  "Among  the  royal  sportsmen  of  to-day,  the  Emperor  of 
Austria  stands  out  a  picturesque  figure.  He  goes  far  afield  to  look 
for  his  game,  his  favourite  sport  being  chamois  shooting  in  the 
mountains  of  the  Tyrol,  near  Ischl.  His  dress  is  entirely  unpre- 
tentious, being  little  different  from  that  of  a  peasant  of  the  same 
locality,  and  it  is  very  evident  that  he  loves  sport  for  its  own  sake. 
No  man  takes  less  heed  of  ceremony  in  the  field.  He  is  often 
alone,  and,  with  an  alpenstock  in  his  hand  and  his  rifle  slung  over 
his  shoulders,  the  Emperor  makes  an  early  start,  often  as  early  as 
four  o'clock  in  the  morning.  On  one  occasion  at  the  end  of  a 
shoot  got  up  in  his  honour  at  Compegne,  and  having  fired  fifteen 
hundred  cartridges,  he  is  credited  with  saying  that  he  regretted  he 
had  not  a  second  shoulder  as  well  as  a  second  gun.'  " 


264  EMPRESS  ELIZABETH 

one ;  she  even  seemed  to  be  actuated  by  a 
longing  to  provide  her  husband  with  a  fraction  of 
that  family  life  which  he  had  been  compelled  to 
forego  during  her  frequent  travels.  She  nearly 
always  spent  her  evenings  in  long  intimate  talks 
on  the  terrace,  or  by  the  fireside  with  him  and 
their  younger  daughter,  when  they  were  occasion- 
ally joined  by  the  Crown  Prince. 

If  the  Emperor  was  busy,  she  conversed  with 
Marie  Valerie  and  her  ladies,  but  of  these  there 
were  but  few,  for  she  kept  her  Court  in  general 
at  a  distance.  Her  bearing  towards  those  whom 
she  did  not  like  seemed  to  indicate  clearly  :  "  No 
admittance  except  on  business."  And  if  her 
wishes  were  not  respected,  her  nervousness 
could  change  into  hot  indignation.  Indeed  it 
happened  on  one  occasion  that  she  struck  a 
gentleman-in-waiting  on  the  grand  staircase  of 
the  Imperial  Palace  at  Vienna,  who  for  some 
cause  had  incurred  her  displeasure.  The  box  on 
the  ear  had  been  witnessed  by  far  too  many  for 
him  to  be  willing  to  overlook  the  insult  and  he 
therefore  felt  himself  compelled  to  beg  the 
Emperor  to  excuse  him  from  all  further  service. 

Francis  Joseph  was  not  annoyed,  simply  for- 
bearing and  indulgent  when  he  heard  of  this 
display  of  energy  on  the  part  of  Elizabeth,  and 


ELIZABETH  AND  HER  COURT  LADIES         205 

may  have  felt  how  often  he  himself  was  wanting 
in  promptitude.  He  is  said  to  have  remarked 
that  he  had  a  good  mind  to  take  the  man  at  his 
word  and  discharge  him,  but  with  his  accustomed 
good  nature  he  re-considered  the  matter,  and  in 
view  of  mollifying  the  indignant  official,  he  pre- 
sented him  with  an  order  the  following  day. 

The  episode  of  the  nobleman  who  was  decor- 
ated because  his  ears  had  been  boxed  by  the 
Empress,  was  a  source  of  intense  amusement  to 
the  Viennese. 

Little  as  Elizabeth  was  appreciated  in  her 
advancing  years  by  the  higher  classes  who  hardly 
knew  her,  she  was  on  the  other  hand,  genuinely 
loved  by  the  ladies  of  her  court  most  in  touch 
with  her,  and  her  servants  adored  her.  All  these 
were  the  objects  of  her  care  and  ready  sympathy, 
and  no  one  could  guide  or  comfort  more  sincerely 
than  she.  If  one  of  her  ladies  was  ill,  the  Em- 
press hastened  to  her,  and  grudged  no  time  spent 
by  the  bedside  of  the  invalid. 

An  announcement  appeared  in  the  papers  one 
morning  that  one  of  Her  Majesty's  maids  of 
honour  had  died  in  the  course  of  the  night,  and 
the  Viennese  who  liked  to  slander  their  Empress, 
expressed  many  a  bitter  word  about  her  indiffer- 
ence, because  she  had  been  seen  riding  in 


206  EMPRESS  ELIZABETH 

Prater  the  previous  afternoon.  Nobody  knew 
that  she  had  passed  the  whole  of  that  night  and 
several  more,  by  the  bedside  of  the  dying  woman, 
and  that  she  had  gone  for  a  ride  to  gain  refresh- 
ment from  air  and  exercise  after  her  painful 
watching. 

One  of  her  ladies  wrote  after  her  death  : 
"  We,  who  loved  her  so  well  and  knew  her  so 
intimately,  just  because  we  were  so  devoted  to 
her,  cannot  speak  of  her,  our  voices  are  choked 
with  tears.  She  was  one  of  those  exceptional 
characters,  who  are  independent  of  the  world, 
because  they  bear  within  themselves  a  life  richer 
and  better  than  that  of  ours.  Every  thought  and 
instinct  was  on  a  higher  level,  she  was  innately  a 
queen.  And  yet  she  was  always  modest,  simple, 
thoroughly  human  and  full  of  touching  considera- 
tion towards  all  in  attendance  upon  her.  Indeed 
her  thoughtfulness  often  distressed  them,  for  she 
refrained  from  ringing  in  the  night,  though  racked 
with  pain,  because  she  would  not  deprive  others 
of  their  rest,  a  consideration  which  frequently — 
unknown  to  the  Empress — induced  some  of  her 
ladies  to  watch  through  the  night  outside  the  door 
of  her  room. 

"  We  went  to  her  with  our  deepest  thoughts, 
as  well  as  with  our  most  worldly  concerns,  always 


ELIZABETH  AND  HER  COURT  LADIES         207 

confident  of  her  ever  ready  sympathy,  her  tender 
counsel,  or  prompt  assistance  in  case  of  need."  * 

*  The  above  letter  has  been  kindly  sent  to  me  from  the  Imperial 
Library  in  Vienna. 


CHAPTER  XXII 

ELIZABETH'S  DRESS  AND  BEAUTIFUL  HAIR 

NATURE  had  endowed  the  Empress  Elizabeth 
with  beauty,  a  noble  mind  and  considerable  in- 
tellectual ability,  while  Providence  had  placed  her 
in  the  highest  position  to  which  a  woman  can 
attain ;  she  seemed  created  for  happiness  and 
deep  attachment. 

Her  outward  appearance  was  one  of  perfect 
harmony,  but  her  character  was  full  of  contradic- 
tions. She  loved  solitude  and  the  freedom  of 
outdoor  life,  and  yet  no  sovereign  in  Europe 
could  bear  herself  with  more  grace  than  the  Em- 
press on  any  public  occasion. 

Simplicity  in  daily  life  was  combined  with 
boundless  extravagance,  and  like  her  cousin  Louis 
of  Bavaria,  she  squandered  enormous  sums  on 
building,  and  lavishly  distributed  money  or  costly 
gifts.  She  never  submitted  to  the  caprice  of 
fashion,  though  her  perfect  figure  was  the  ideal 
of  every  dressmaker.  Her  walk  was  li^ht  and 


ELIZABETH'S  DRESS  209 

graceful,  but  she  wore  heavy,  thick-soled  boots. 
She  hid  her  beauty  behind  a  veil  or  a  fan,  and 
her  gowns  were  plainer  than  those  of  her  house- 
maids ;  but  her  innate  dignity  was  always  appar- 
ent, no  matter  what  her  dress  might  be.  It  was 
only  with  unwillingness  that  she  appeared  in  the 
costly  court  robes  that  necessity  imposed  upon 
her,  but  even  these  bore  the  impress  of  her  own 
individuality.  Latterly  she  rarely  wore  anything 
but  black  and  white,  occasionally  pale  grey  or 
lilac  silk  and  velvet,  but  she  never  adopted  pro- 
nounced colours.  In  spite  of  all  she  had  gone 
through,  time  had  hardly  touched  her  features, 
and  those  who  saw  her  at  some  court  festivity, 
in  full  dress,  sparkling  with  gold  and  precious 
stones,  which  seemed  to  enhance  her  incompar- 
able beauty,  have  maintained  that  at  fifty,  she 
was  quite  as  lovely  as  she  had  been  twenty  years 
previously. 

Her  hair  remained  as  luxurious  as  in  her 
youth,  it  still  fell  like  a  thick  cloak  below  her 
knees,  and  it  was  not  till  she  was  nearing  sixty 
that  a  few  silver  threads  became  apparent,  a  fact 
that  was  a  source  of  distress  to  her.  But  this 
wealth  of  hair  was  also  a  trouble,  and  good  and 
considerate  as  she  was  towards  her  dressers,  she 

could    not    always    restrain   an   impatient    word 

1-1 


210  EMPRESS  ELIZABETH 

during  the  long  morning  hours  needed  to  arrange 
it. 

"  I  feel  my  hair,"  she  observed  to  her  Greek 
reader,  Dr.  Christomanos,  as  she  let  her  fingers 
glide  through  its  waves,  "  like  a  heavy  foreign 
substance  upon  my  head." 

"  Your  Majesty's  hair  is  like  a  crown,  and 
needs  no  other,"  he  replied. 

"It  is  an  easier  matter  to  dispense  with  any 
other  crown  than  with  this,"  she  rejoined  with 
a  sorrowful  smile. 

One  day  as  she  was  climbing  a  mountain 
path  with  Dr.  Christomanos,  they  met  a  lady 
with  closely  cropped  hair,  when  the  Empress 
exclaimed  : 

"  That  is  a  sensible  woman,  but  if  I  were  to 
have  my  hair  cut  short  in  order  to  get  rid  of 
an  unnecessary  weight,  the  people  would  fall 
upon  me  like  wolves. 

Another  day,  when  Dr.  Christomanos  was 
reading  aloud  to  her,  while  her  hair  was  being 
dressed,  she  said  : 

"  I  am  a  slave  to  my  hair — perhaps  I  shall 
cut  every  bit  of  it  off!  " 

But  outbreaks  such  as  these  had  no  serious 
meaning.  Weariness  and  annoyance  at  the 
tedium  her  hair  caused  her,  may  have  induced 


ELIZABETH'S  BEAUTIFUL  HAIR  211 

her,  for  one  short  minute,  to  wish  it  away, 
though  in  reality  she  was  proud  of  her  abundant 
tresses ;  and  this  was  one  of  the  very  few 
symptoms  of  vanity  that  she  was  ever  known  to 
evince. 


CHAPTER  XXIII 

FRIENDSHIPS — THE   CASTLE   AT   CORFU 

DURING  one  of  her  walks  in  Madeira  an  aged 
man  approached  the  Empress  with  a  bouquet  of 
camellias  in  his  hand,  which  she  accepted  and 
ordered  her  companion  to  reward  him  with  a  few 
silver  coins. 

She  continued  her  walk,  when  she  was  again 
accosted,  but  this  time  by  a  young  girl  who 
likewise  offered  her  camellias,  which  Elizabeth 
repaid  with  a  gold  piece  from  her  own  hands. 

Her  companion  enquired  why  she  had  given 
the  healthy  young  girl  so  much  more  than  the 
aged  man. 

"  Because  she  was  pretty,"  replied  the  Empress. 
The  beauty  of  the  young  had  an  especial  charm 
for  her.  She  herself  had  enjoyed  no  youth,  she 
had  stepped,  as  it  were,  direct  from  childhood 
to  a  throne.  But  it  was  just  because  the  pleasure 
of  maidenhood  had  escaped  her,  that  she  felt  an 
irresistible  attraction  to  the  first  early  bloom  in  a 


FRIENDSHIPS  213 

woman,  whether  in  real  life  or  in  some  artistic 
representation. 

Shakespeare's  heroines  of  fifteen  or  sixteen, 
Miranda  in  "  The  Tempest,"  and  Rosalind  in 
"As  you  like  it,"  counted  among  her  literary 
favourites,  and  whenever  she  met  with  graceful 
young  girls  on  her  travels,  she  never  failed  to 
treat  them  with  attention  and  generosity. 

Deep  and  serious  as  her  own  inner  life  always 
was,  she  experienced  a  child-like  gladness  in  the 
midst  of  innocent  little  ones,  and  possessed  an 
extraordinary  talent  for  gaining  the  confidence 
of  the  young  of  all  ages,  over  whom,  to  the  last, 
when  she  chose,  she  could  exercise  an  irresistible 
fascination. 

As  we  have  seen  she  rarely  had  any  intercourse 
with  those  ladies  of  her  Court  who  were  either 
mentally  her  inferiors,  or  with  whose  mode  of 
thought  she  could  not  sympathise,  and  if  in  early 
days  she  ever  became  attached  to  anyone  beneath 
her,  it  always  aroused  complaint  and  annoyance. 
There  were  many  who  maintained  that  she  had 
never  known  real  friendship ;  but  impulsive  as 
she  was,  she  was  capable  of  a  warm,  though 
passing  affection  for  one  or  another,  who  had 
awakened  her  sympathy,  and  while  this  lasted, 
she  would  converse  unreservedly  with  him  or 


214  EMPRESS  ELIZABETH 

her  on  every  topic  between  heaven  and  earth. 
But  she  rapidly  wearied  of  most  acquaintances 
and  allowed  them  to  disappear  from  her  horizon 
without  a  sigh,  perhaps  as  a  natural  sequel  to  her 
peculiar  restlessness. 

The  marriage  of  her  eldest  brother  with  the 
actress  Henriette  Mendel  was  mentioned  in  the 
first  chapter,  and  their  only  child  was  the 
Countess  Wallersee.  The  Empress,  who 
ignored  the  difference  in  rank,  sent  for  her  niece, 
and  during  the  seventies,  her  young  relative  was 
constantly  with  her. 

But  her  aunt's  kindness  tended  to  give  the 
young  girl  a  far  too  exalted  opinion  of  her  own 
dignity,  and  it  is  even  rumoured  that  she  enter- 
tained hopes  of  becoming  the  consort  of  the 
Crown  Prince.  After  his  marriage  she  is  said  to 
have  sown  discord  between  the  young  couple,  by 
acquainting  the  Crown  Princess  with  circum- 
stances that  her  husband  had  no  intention  of 
communicating  to  her. 

The  friendship  between  Elizabeth  and  her 
niece  cooled  in  the  course  of  years,  and  the  latter 
never  dared  to  appear  before  her  aunt  after  the 
death  of  her  cousin  Rudolph. 

In  consequence  of  her  own  love  for  horsman- 
ship,  the  Empress  became  deeply  interested  in 


FRIENDSHIPS  215 

the  riding-mistress  Elisa  Renz ;  but  the  mutual 
friendship  gave  rise  to  many  malicious  slanders. 
Eliza  rode  Her  Majesty's  horses  in  the  Imperial 
Riding  School,  and  on  one  occasion,  after  being 
profuse  in  her  admiration  of  a  favourite  "  Lord 
Byron,"  the  animal  was  instantly  presented  to 
her  by  the  Empress. 

The  circus  rider  Emilie  Loisset  could  also 
boast  of  especial  favours  from  Her  Majesty. 

But  it  is  probable  that  no  one,  outside  her  own 
connections,  ever  enjoyed  closer  intimacy  with 
Elizabeth  than  Ida  von  Ferenczy,  a  Hungarian 
who  had  entered  her  service  when  quite  young 
and  attended  her  up  to  the  moment  of  her  death. 
She  had  made  her  acquaintance  at  the  time  of 
her  coronation  in  Hungary,  when  she  had  been 
completely  captivated  by  the  fresh  attractive  ap- 
pearance, bright  frank  manner,  clear  intellect 
and  refined  tact  of  the  young  girl,  who  afterwards 
became  her  constant  travelling  companion.  In 
fact  Ida  von  Ferenczy  grew  grey  in  the  service 
of  Her  Majesty,  who  treated  her  with  unvarying 
kindness,  and  to  whom  she  clung  with  unbounded 
admiration  and  devotion.  In  later  years,  she  was 
nominally  her  reader,  but  in  reality  she  had  be- 
come her  companion,  friend  and  counsellor. 


216  EMPRESS  ELIZABETH 

We  recall  that  in  the  early  sixties  Elizabeth 
had  recovered  her  health  during  a  visit  to  Corfu, 
the  beauties  of  which  had  left  a  permanent  im- 
pression upon  her  mind,  and  it  was  in  the  course 
of  repeated  visits  to  Greece  that  her  idea  of  build- 
ing a  villa  for  herself  on  the  island  had  become 
matured.  Not  far  from  the  picturesque  village  of 
Gasturi,  and  in  accordance  with  her  own  direc- 
tions, there  gradually  arose  the  architectural  chef- 
d'oeuvre  of  the  "  Achilleion,"  which  became  one 
of  her  favourite  residences. 

"  I  have  arranged  it  all  myself,"  she  said, 
"and  selected  each  article  of  furniture,  which 
makes  me  far  more  at  home  here  than  in 
Vienna." 

The  fa$ade  is  towards  the  sea,  while  the  other 
sides  are  surrounded  by  terraces  of  Rowers,  and 
again  by  a  belt  of  olive,  laurel  and  lemon  trees. 
It  contained  128  rooms,  all  decorated  with  costly 
Greek  and  Pompeian  works  of  art ;  and  stabling 
for  fifty  horses. 

Not  far  from  the  house,  at  the  foot  of  Mount 
Aja  Kyriahi,  is  the  memorial  statue  of  her 
favourite  poet  Heine.  The  figure  is  seated,  and 
the  hands  which  rest  on  his  knees,  hold  a  tablet, 
on  which,  at  the  request  of  the  Empress,  the 
sculptor  has  engraved  his  lines  : 


THE  CASTLE  AT  CORFU  217 

"  Was  will  die  einsame  Thrane  ? 
Sie  triibt  mir  ja  den  Blick  ! 
Sie  blieb  aus  alien  Zeiten 
In  meinen  Augen  zuriick." 

The  Empress's  private  rooms  were  distinctly 
separate  from  any  others  in  the  building,  she 
even  had  her  own  entrance  by  which  she  could 
come  and  go  at  pleasure  at  any  hour  of  the  day 
or  night. 

"  I  wish  to  live  like  a  student,"  she  used  to  say  ; 
and  so  she  did,  but  like  a  very  diligent  one.  She 
rose  at  five  and  went  for  a  walk,  generally  alone 
and  with  a  book  under  her  arm.  On  her  return 
she  began  her  studies,  with  just  a  lead  pencil  and 
an  exercise  book  in  which  she  declined  and  con- 
jugated with  the  keenest  ardour,  and  wrote  a 
daily  composition  for  the  inspection  of  her  reader 
or  teacher. 

A  tent  had  been  erected  on  the  terrace  where 
she  could  have  her  hair  dressed  in  full  view  of 
the  open  sea.  Her  actual  dressing-room  was 
furnished  with  a  handsome  marble  bath,  which 
she  had  purchased  from  the  Villa  Borghese  in 
Rome.  She  was  always  in  bed  by  nine  o'clock, 
with  a  volume  of  Heine's  "  Buch  der  Lieder" 
under  her  pillow  ;  but  it  was  no  infrequent 
occurrence  for  her  to  rise  in  the  course  of  the 


218  EMPRESS  ELIZABETH 

night  and  wander  among  the  gloomy  avenues  of 
the  grounds  ;  or  even,  soon  after  the  retirement 
of  her  court,  she  might  occasionally  be  seen  from 
their  windows,  dressed  in  black  with  a  large 
black  veil  over  her  head,  gliding  along  the 
terrace  out  towards  the  park. 

She  knew  every  part  in  the  vicinity  of  the  Achil- 
leion,  though  she  preferred  the  steepest  and  most 
dangerous  mountain  tracks,  which  she  always 
climbed  alone,  for  not  one  of  her  ladies  had  either 
nerve  or  endurance  enough  to  follow  her.  The 
stillness  of  the  mountain  summits,  the  unearthly 
clearness  of  the  air  and  the  majestic  beauty  of 
nature  seemed  to  impart  a  momentary  peace  to 
her  restless  spirit,  and  she  returned  from  these 
excursions  enriched  with  solemn  impressions  and 
precious  recollections. 

"  Man  never  fails  to  bring  destruction  in  his 
train,"  she  used  to  say,  "  it  is  only  when  nature 
is  alone  that  she  can  preserve  her  eternal  beauty, 
and  for  that  reason  I  will  not  allow  a  stranger  to 
look  upon  my  Achilleion.  If  I  did,  not  a  stone 
would  be  at  peace  in  the  course  of  even  a  few 
months,  for  men  write  their  names  and  leave  the 
mark  of  their  utter  insignificance  even  upon 
stones. 

/V  high  whitewashed  wall  and  the  thick  foliage 


THE  CASTLE  AT  CORFU  219 

of  the  olives  effectually  protect  the  castle  from  the 
gaze  of  the  curious.  "  Englishmen  are  the  most 
absurd,"  she  observed,  "they  will  stand  for  hours 
on  the  height  opposite,  though  they  can  see 
nothing." 

And  yet  she  was  by  no  means  as  misanthropical 
as  she  has  been  represented  ;  she  had  an  interest 
in  her  fellow  beings,  but  she  would  only  shew  it, 
when  she  herself  was  not  an  object  of  curiosity. 

"  I  wish  for  nothing  from  mankind,  except  to  be 
left  in  peace  "  was  her  frequent  exclamation,  and 
where  she  was  not  recognised,  she  would  occasion- 
ally mix  with  the  people,  and  she  was  unfailingly 
kind  towards  the  poor. 

"When  I  am  thrown  with  Nature's  children," 
she  used  to  say,  "  I  experience  something  of  the 
same  peace  which  Nature  herself  always  gives 
me." 

She  loved  to  sit  on  the  sweet  scented  wild  thyme 
or  pale  pink  heather  and  chat  with  the  peasants 
from  Gasturi,  while  she  refreshed  herself  with  her 
favourite  beverage,  milk  warm  from  the  goat. 
She  could  talk  to  both  men  and  women  in  language 
they  could  understand,  and  the  country  folk  wor- 
shipped the  "Queen  of  Gasturi,"  as  they  called 
her,  kneeling  in  the  dust  before  her,  as  she  drew 
pear. 


220  EMPRESS  ELIZABETH 

"  Charming  queen,"  the  young  women  cried 
after  her,  "  God  bless  your  steps,"  said  the  old 
ones,  while  they  crossed  themselves  to  give 
greater  emphasis  and  significance  to  their  simple 
words.  The  young  men  bent  their  heads  and 
gazed  upon  her  with  admiring  eyes,  while  the 
village  children  stood  about  in  groups,  or  watched 
for  her,  half  hidden  behind  the  thick  stems  of  the 
olive  trees,  from  whence  they  would  emerge  with 
gifts  of  whole  branches  of  oranges  or  almonds. 

She  frequently  visited  a  monastery  perched 
upon  a  height  not  far  from  the  castle,  and  enjoyed 
conversing  with  these  men  who  had  voluntarily 
renounced  all  intercourse  with  their  fellows.  She 
enquired  of  one  of  them  if  he  sometimes  went 
down  into  the  village. 

"  Somebody  must  go  now  and  again  to  make 
our  purchases,"  he  replied.  "  We  are  human, 
and  our  bodies  feel  cold  and  hunger.  But  other- 
wise, what  is  there  to  do  in  the  village  ?  I  do 
not  deny  that  it  may  be  very  beautiful  down  there, 
but  it  is  far  better up  here." 

"And  I  tell  you,"  said  the  Empress,  "that  you 
have  chosen  the  best  part." 


CHAPTER  XXIV 

DEATH  OF  THE  CROWN  PRINCE — DEEP  MELANCHOLY 

ON  January  3ist,  1889  the  Austrian  Imperial 
couple  were  startled  by  that  fearful  calamity, 
almost  unique  in  the  annals  of  the  nineteenth 
century. 

"The  tragedy  in  Mayerling  "  known  to  the 
world  at  large  in  outline,  and  even  at  the  present 
day  enveloped  by  an  impenetrable  veil,  which 
suddenly  and  gruesomely  terminated  the  life  of 
their  only  son. 

A  thousand  rumours  were  current  about  the 
circumstance,  which  we  almost  hope  history  may 
never  be  able  to  explain,  if  the  words  written  by 
the  King  of  the  Belgians  to  the  Comte  de  Flandre 
are  true  that  "all  reports  are  better  than  the 
knowledge  of  the  real  truth." 

The  following  is  the  only  account  on  which 
the  least  reliance  can  be  placed. 


222  EMPRESS  ELIZABETH 

The  Crown  Prince  was  found  dead  in  his  bed 
in  the  Imperial  shooting  box  at  Mayerling,  near 
Baden  in  Lower  Austria,  where  he  had  been 
spending  a  few  days.  He  met  his  death  through 
a  terrible  wound  in  the  head,  and  in  the  same 
room  was  found  the  body  of  a  young  girl,  the 
Baroness  Vetsera,  whom  he  had  loved. 

There  was  a  general  impression  that  they  had 
both  committed  suicide,  but  there  were  also  signs 
which  pointed  to  the  fact  that  Rudolph  might 
have  been  murdered.  * 

He  had  been  ardently  loved  by  the  people, 
and  it  was  expected  he  would  prove  a  thoroughly 
capable  ruler  in  the  light  of  modern  ideas. 

But  side  by  side  with  brilliant  gifts,  the 
unfortunate  prince  possessed  a  large  share  of  the 
reckless  levity  of  conduct  that  characterised  the 
Habsburgs,  and  members  of  his  immediate  circle 
had  already  begun  to  entertain  anxious  mis- 
givings about  his  future. 

But  there  was  one  who  never  lost  confidence 
in  him,  and  that  one  was  his  mother,  who  had 
carefully  and  judiciously,  advised  him  on  his 
entry  into  public  life,  and  to  whose  counsel  he 

*  "  The  idea  of  death  had  been  haunting  the  Prince's  mind  for 
some  time,  as  a  few  days  ago  he  sent  all  his  family  papers  and  his 
will  to  Szoegyenyi  — Marisch,  the  Minister." — Times,  February  1889. 


DEATH  OF  THE  CRO  WN  PRINCE  223 

was  partially  indebted  for  the  popularity  he  had 
enjoyed  from  his  earliest  youth. 

And  then  a  change  came  over  him,  though 
the  few  who  were  more  intimately  acquainted 
with  the  Empress,  were  still  conscious  of  the 
mother's  influence  in  the  words  and  sentiments 
of  her  son. 

Awe  and  terror  seemed  to  paralyse  the  capital 
on  the  morning  of  that  grey  wintry  day  in 
January,  when  the  news  became  current  that  he 
was  dead.  The  general  confusion  was  inde- 
scribable, and  nobody  seemed  capable  of  giving 
any  directions,  until  an  elderly  gentleman  in- 
waiting,  in  the  ante-room  of  the  H  of  burg, 
suggested  that  the  news  ought  first  to  be 
communicated  to  the  Empress.  And  although 
it  was  feared  that  she  would  utterly  break  down 
under  the  terrible  shock,  it  was  agreed  that  this 
course  was  the  best  one  to  adopt. 

It  was  evident  on  this  occasion  that  her  mind 
and  nerves  possessed  greater  powers  of  resistance 
than  is  the  case  with  many  a  man,  and  though 
she  did  not  speak  for  some  minutes,  and  turned 
away  from  those  who  had  brought  the  news,  she 
asked  at  length  : — 

"  Where  is  my  son  ? " 
And  then  her  thoughts  seemed  to  hurry  from  her 


224  EMPRESS  ELIZABETH 

dead  child  to  his  father,  who  as  yet  knew  nothing, 
for  in  the  whole  Hofburg,  among  officers  and 
ministers,  there  was  not  one  who  had  the  courage 
to  approach  the  Emperor  with  such  sinister 
tidings. 

While  they  were  deliberating  on  their  next 
step,  the  Empress  suddenly  joined  the  group. 
Sorrow  had  hardened  her  features,  her  voice  had 
changed  in  tone,  and  she  had  become  deadly 
pale  in  this  short  moment,  the  most  exquisitely 
painful  in  her  sorrowful  life. 

She  told  them  that  she  herself  would  convey 
the  crushing  news  to  the  Emperor,  and  heroically 
keeping  under  her  own  feelings,  she  did  support 
her  husband  with  her  strong  tender  sympathy, 
and  stood  by  his  side  through  all  the  endless 
funeral  ceremonies  of  their  unhappy  son,  in  whose 
tomb  so  many  of  their  brightest  hopes  were 
buried. 

These  days  of  poignant  grief  served  at  least  to 
make  known  her  worth  to  the  world  at  large,  and 
when  a  deputation  from  the  Imperial  Diet  arrived 
to  express  their  sympathy  with  the  mourners, 
Francis  Joseph  uttered  the  following  memorable 
words  in  a  voice  choked  with  sobs  : 

"  I  cannot  describe  in  adequate  words  my  deep 
gratitude  to  my  dearly  loved  Consort  who  has 


225 

proved  herself  a  strong  support  during  these 
sorrowful  days,  and  I  devoutly  thank  God  for 
giving  me  such  a  helpmeet.  Repeat  my  words, 
for  the  wider  you  spread  them  abroad,  the  more 
heartily  thankful  I  shall  feel." 

The  hope  of  a  direct  successor  to  the  throne 
had  been  cruelly  snatched  from  the  elderly  pair, 
and  yet  they  found  strength  to  write  to  the  Pope, 
Leo  XIII:  "In  all  humility  we  give  back  to 
God,  what  the  Lord  in  his  mercy  had  sent  to  us." 

Ten  days  later,  accompanied  by  the  Arch- 
duchess Marie  Valerie  they  left  for  Hungary. 

Rudolph  had  been  the  first  prince  of  the  ruling 
house  who  had  been  systematically  trained  to 
become  a  good,  constitutional  Hungarian  king. 
He  had  been  accustomed  from  his  childhood  to 
the  language  which  he  wrote  and  spoke  like  a 
native ;  and  during  his  frequent  visits  to  the 
country  he  had  acquired  a  complete  acquaintance 
with  its  different  districts,  including  even  the 
most  remote.  He  knew  all  the  renowned 
members  of  Hungarian  society,  and  stood  on  a 
friendly  footing  with  many  of  the  aristocracy ; 
thus  by  his  removal,  an  inexorable  fate  had 
deprived  the  whole  nation  of  a  great  hope. 

Sorrow  for  his  death  was  as  keen  and  genuine 
in  Buda-Pesth  as  in  Vienna,  and  both  the 

15 


22&  'EMPRESS  ELIZABETH 

Emperor  and  his  Consort  met  with  the  truest 
condolence  from  every  corner  of  the  kingdom, 
expressed  perhaps  in  the  tenderest  terms  for  the 
bereaved  mother. 

At  the  station  in  Buda-Pesth  the  royal  family 
was  met  by  members  of  both  chambers,  nobles, 
church  dignitaries  and  municipal  authorities,  as 
well  as  by  the  University  students,  all  wearing 
crape  on  the  arm,  while  the  people  lined  the  road 
up  to  the  royal  castle  at  Buda. 

Elizabeth  observed  a  few  years  before  she  was 
murdered : — 

"There  is  a  moment  in  the  life  of  each  one 
when  the  spirit  dies,  and  it  by  no  means  follows 
that  this  need  be  at  the  time  of  physical  death." 

This  moment  came  to  her  when  the  news 
reached  her  that  her  son  was  dead,  for  she 
changed  from  that  day,  and  it  is  said  that  she  was 
never  heard  to  laugh  again,  that  it  was  even  a 
rarity  to  see  her  smile.  She  had  been  heroic  at 
the  time  of  the  shock,  but  the  strong  self-control 
of  those  early  weeks  was  followed  by  heart-rend- 
ing despair.  Many  were  of  opinion  that  she  had 
been  contradictory  and  eccentric  for  some  time 
past.  Now  she  herself  remarked  that  she  had  no 
longer  "  either  the  strength  to  live,  or  the  wish  to 
die." 


227 

The  Berlin  papers  reported  that  her  mind  was 
affected,  but  they  were  mistaken  ;  though  if  it  had 
been  the  case,  after  such  a  blow,  the  world  could 
hardly  have  wondered.  It  was  at  this  time  that 
the  doctors  found  the  first  trace  of  heart  disease, 
from  which  she  was  a  sufferer  until  the  day  of  her 
death. 

The  sobs  of  the  disconsolate  mother  were  fre- 
quently heard  by  those  on  duty  in  the  ante-room 
to  the  apartments  of  the  Empress,  whose  aversion 
to  allow  the  world  to  witness  her  grief  became 
more  and  more  pronounced,  while  her  absences 
from  Court  were  of  more  and  more  frequent 
occurence.  She  absolutely  refused  to  see  the 
Crown  Princess  Stephanie,  to  whose  imprudence 
she  attributed  the  wild  life  and  death  of  her  son. 
She  would  not  even  suffer  their  daughter,  the 
Archduchess  Elizabeth  to  be  near  her ;  it  pained 
her  to  look  at  the  child  who  had  inherited  the 
manners  of  her  father,  and  in  a  degree  the  features 
of  her  mother. 

She  became  a  stranger  to  the  people,  almost 
to  the  aristocracy,  and  on  her  rare  visits  to 
Vienna,  she  no  longer  occupied  her  former  rooms 
in  the  so-called  "  Amaliehof"  of  the  Burg,  which 
carried  with  them  the  recollection  of  that  day 
when  she  had  volunteered  to  convey  the  message 


228  EMPRESS  ELIZABETH 

to  the  Emperor  that  none  other  dared  undertake. 
Her  circle  became  more  and  more  narrow,  and 
thej  sight  of  her  fellow-beings  more  and  more 
painful  to  her,  which  led  her  to  give  the  most 
stringent  orders  that  no  curious  eyes  should  watch 
her  movements. 

This  hankering  after  solitude  was  a  cause  of 
great  grief  to  her  husband  and  children  ;  not  even 
her  favourite  castle  at  Lainz  could  attract  her 
longer  than  a  few  weeks,  she  visited  Hungary 
much  less  frequently,  and  never  for  more  than  a 
month  at  a  time. 

The  roses  at  Godollo  were  allowed  to  bloom 
and  fade,  and  the  grass  grew  high  on  the  paths 
where  she  had  loved  to  ride. 

Her  passion  for  travelling  had  always  been 
strong,  but  now  it  grew  into  a  perfect  fever  that 
drove  her  without  ceasing  from  one  spot  to 
another,  and  made  her  wander  through  the  world 
like  a  restless  bird  that  could  find  no  repose. 

Her  husband  visited  her  now  and  again  during 
these  perpetual  travels,  when  his  presence  would 
rouse  her  for  a  short  interval,  to  be  followed 
invariably  by  fits  of  yet  deeper  melancholy.  She 
always  wore  mourning  and  never  ceased  to  grieve, 
while  her  whole  appearance  was  that  of  a  stricken 
lonely  woman. 


CHAPTER  XXV 

BETROTHAL  OF  THE  ARCHDUCHESS  MARIE  VALERIE — DEATH  OF  THE 
DUCHESS  LUDOVICA — RESIDENCE  IN  CORFU — LAST  COURT  FESTIVI- 
TIES, AND  LAST  VISIT  TO  HUNGARY 

ON  the  Christmas  Eve  after  the  death  of  the 
Crown  Prince  Rudolph,  the  fifty-second  anniver- 
sary of  her  mother's  birth,  the  Archduchess  Marie 
Valerie  became  engaged  to  her  cousin,  the 
chivalrous  and  artistic  Francis  Salvator,  Duke  of 
Tuscany,  when  the  Emperor  placed  his  daughter's 
hand  in  that  of  the  young  man,  as  he  said  with 
deep  emotion  : 

"  I  foresaw  it  long  ago,  may  you  be  as  happy 
as  it  is  possible  for  mortals  to  be ! " 

Valerie  hid  her  face  on  her  father's  breast,  and 
then  hastened  to  the  Empress,  whom  she  kissed 
again  and  again,  as  she  exclaimed  : — 

"  Mamma !  how  happy  I  feel  that  I  need  not  go 
away  when  I  am  married,  but  that  I  may  always 
live  near  you." 

In  the  evening  of  the  same  day  she  expressed 
the  wish  to  go  as  soon  as  possible  to  claim  the 


230  EMPRESS  ELIZABETH 

blessing  of  her  aged  grandmother  in  Bavaria,  and 
the  Empress  agreed  to  start  with  her  daughter 
and  her  future  son-in-law  the  day  after  Christmas 
Day. 

Duke  Max  had  died  in  1888,  shortly  after 
his  diamond  wedding,  at  Possenhofen,  and  the 
Duchess  Ludovica  had  been  very  feeble,  especi- 
ally since  the  shock  caused  by  the  death  of  Prince 
Rudolph,  but  her  mind  was  as  clear  as  ever,  and 
the  meeting  between  herself,  her  daughter  and 
her  grandchild  was  a  very  hearty  one. 

The  spring  of  1890  was  spent  by  Elizabeth  at 
Wiesbaden  and  Heidelberg,  in  the  company  of 
Valerie  and  her  fiance\  On  the  return  journey 
to  Vienna,  the  train  ran  off  the  line  in  the  neigh- 
bourhood of  Frankfort  am  Main,  when  several 
carriages,  both  in  front  and  behind  the  saloon 
carriage  of  the  Empress,  were  overturned  and 
smashed,  but  she  and  her  companions  miracu- 
lously escaped  unhurt. 

Almost  immediately  after  her  arrival  in  the 
capital,  a  fresh  grief  awaited  her  in  the  unex- 
pected death  at  Ratisbon  of  her  eldest  sister, 
Helene  of  Thurn  and  Taxis.  The  Empress 
attended  her  funeral,  and  then  hastened  to 
Munich  to  comfort  her  sorrowing  mother. 

The   marriage  of  Marie  Valerie  and   Francis 


MARRIAGE  OF  MARIE  VALERIE  231 

Salvator  followed*  shortly  after  her  return  to 
Austria,  when  for  the  first  time  since  the  death  of 
her  son,  a  smile  was  seen  on  the  lips  of  the  Em- 
press, who  for  the  wedding  day  exchanged  her 
sombre  mourning  gown  for  one  of  grey  silk. 

But  this  glimmer  of  cheerfulness  was  of  short 
duration.  Valerie's  devotion  had  certainly  lessened 
the  pressure  of  daily  life  for  her,  and  the  mother's 
heart  grasped  the  fact,  that  although  she  had 
married  a  Prince  of  Austria  and  would  have  her 
home  in  the  land,  the  relation  between  them  must 
inevitably  be  changed.  She  would  miss  the  con- 
stant companionship  of  her  daughter,  and  she, 
who  credited  herself  with  an  intense  love  of 
solitude,  wept  scalding  tears  at  the  thought  that 
she  must  henceforth  be  really  alone. 

Her  melancholy  and  seriousness  became  even 
more  apparent  and  intensified  by  the  illness  and 
subsequent  death  of  her  mother,  January  25, 
1892,  after  which  she  withdrew  to  her  castle 
Achilleion  in  Corfu,  where  she  erected  a  monu- 
ment to  her  unfortunate  son,  and  seemed  to  exist 
on  the  recollections  of  her  beloved  dead. 

On  the  summit  of  Mount  Aja  Kyriahi  there 
stands  a  tiny  church  surrounded  by  cypresses,  to 

*At  Ischl,  July  3ist,  1890, 


232  EMPRESS  ELIZABETH 

which  she  ascended  every  morning  before  sun- 
rise, when  by  her  express  command,  no  other 
worshipper  was  allowed  to  be  present. 

She  wandered  alone  by  the  steepest  and  most 
dangerous  mountain  paths,  when  her  deep  mourn- 
ing seemed  to  form  a  melancholy  contrast  with 
the  bright  spring  colouring  of  the  island. 

"  I  can  breathe  with  greater  ease  and  freedom 
on  these  lonely  heights,  where  others  would  feel 
themselves  forsaken,"  she  used  to  say.  "  I  am 
perfectly  satisfied  on  Aja  Kyriahi,  and  could  even 
renounce  my  passion  for  travelling  if  I  could  re- 
main on  its  heights  for  ever."  She  has  inscribed 
on  the  wall  of  the  church  : 

"  Elizabeth  of  Austria  sat  here.  A  mild  west 
wind  blew  round  her,  and  the  crag  which  for  her 
had  decked  itself  with  flowers,  is  glad  to  preserve 
her  memory." 

Her  lady-in-waiting  and  her  reader  only  saw 
her  for  a  few  hours  each  day  ;  she  was  spending 
her  life  in  a  world  of  dreams,  and  yet  in  the  most 
sorrowful  days  of  this  eventful  period,  her  choicest 
recreation  still  consisted  in  a  poem  of  Heine's 
or  a  scene  of  Shakespeare's.  She  did  not  exact 
so  much  that  books  should  entertain  her,  as  that 
they  should  people  her  loneliness  with  imaginary 
fanciful  pictures,  and  she  had  so  completely  appro- 


ELIZABETH  RETIRES  TO  CORFU  233 

priated  the  characters  of  her  favourite  authors,  that 
they  stood  before  her  almost  in  the  garb  of  reality. 

Her  readers  sometimes  tried  to  arouse  her 
interest  in  the  writers  of  the  day,  but  the  far 
away  look  in  her  eyes  that  increased  as  they 
went  on,  and  her  utter  inattention  warned  them 
of  the  fruitlessness  of  their  efforts,  and  it  was  not 
till  the  author  in  hand  was  exchanged  for  Shakes- 
peare or  Heine,  that  she  showed  any  interest, 
when  it  was  no  unusual  occurrence  for  her  to 
interrupt  the  reader  and  recite  some  lines  that 
especially  charmed  her. 

The  only  time  that  she  appeared  at  a  Court 
festivity  after  the  death  of  her  son,  was  on  the 
occasion  of  the  visit  of  the  Tzar  and  Tzarina  to 
Vienna,  when  her  presence  at  the  gala  reception 
excited  even  more  curiosity  and  interest  than  the 
sight  of  the  Russian  Imperial  couple,  and  a  sort 
of  hushed  reverence  greeted  her  as  she  entered 
leaning  on  the  arm  of  the  Tzar.  She  was  in 
deep  mourning  as  usual,  and  bowed  to  all  present 
with  queenly  dignity,  looking  at  least  twenty 
years  younger  than  any  of  her  contemporaries, 
in  spite  of  the  sorrows  she  had  endured,  which 
justified  the  title  still  due  to  her  of  "  the  loveliest 
woman  of  her  Court." 

But  her  thoughts  were  clearly  far  away  from 


234  EMPRESS  ELIZABETH 

the  splendour  that  surrounded  herself  and  her 
guests,  and  verified  her  remark  about  this  time  : 
"  I  feel  as  though  I  were  closely  veiled  when  I 
thus  masquerade  in  the  dress  of  an  Empress,"  and 
on  another  occasion :  "When  I  move  about  among 
my  fellow-beings,  I  only  need  that  part  of  myself 
which  I  have  in  common  with  others,  and  people 
are  amazed  that  I  am  sufficiently  like-minded  witn 
themselves  to  enquire  the  price  of  sweets,  or  make 
a  remark  upon  the  weather.  It  is  like  an  old 
gown  that  one  takes  from  one's  wardrobe  just  to 
wear  for  a  single  day." 

Hungary  was  celebrating  her  millenary  in  1896, 
just  when  the  Empress  was  even  more  suffering 
than  usual,  and  unwilling  to  attend  the  fetes ;  but 
a  deputation  waited  upon  her,  and  represented  the 
gloom  that  would  be  cast  over  the  Hungarian 
rejoicing,  if  she  were  not  present,  and  in  spite  of 
physical  pain  and  mental  depression,  she  at  length 
allowed  herself  to  be  persuaded.  She  occupied 
her  seat  on  the  throne  by  her  husband's  side, 
draped  entirely  in  black  lace,  and  wearing,  in 
Hungarian  fashion,  a  long  black  veil  fastened  to 
her  hair,  which  had  lost  nothing  in  thickness  and 
beauty.  Her  face  was  white  and  unspeakably 
sad,  she  apparently  neither  heard  nor  saw,  but  sat 
by  the  King  as  indifferent  as  a  statue. 


LAST  VISIT  TO  HUNGARY  235 

The  moment  the  President  of  the  Chamber  of 
Deputies  began  to  speak,  Francis  Joseph  was  all 
attention,  and  fixed  his  eyes  on  the  speaker,  but 
there  was  not  a  vestige  of  interest  on  the  coun- 
tenance of  the  Queen,  which  remained  pallid  and 
expressionless  as  before. 

The  speaker  mentioned  her  name,  but  still  not 
a  muscle  moved  ;  though  at  the  sound  of  "  Eljen 
Erzsebet,"  the  air  quivered  with  the  cry  so  vocifer- 
ously repeated,  that  the  marble  walls  of  the 
throne- room  seemed  to  re-echo  the  voices,  and  in 
that  "  Eljen  Erzsebet "  were  contained  the  most 
fervent  prayers  to  Heaven,  and  the  deepest 
devotion  to  herself. 

The  majestic  head,  hitherto  so  irresponsive, 
now  slowly  moved  in  graceful  acknowledgment, 
and  cheers  burst  forth  afresh  to  last  for  minutes, 
when  the  great  nobles  of  the  land  waved  their 
plumed  hats  in  honour  of  their  Queen,  whose 
ashy  features  at  length  became  suffused  with  red, 
her  glorious  dark  blue  eyes  shone  in  their  old 
lustre,  though  glistening  with  tears,  and  all 
present  felt  assured  that  the  attachment  between 
Elizabeth  and  her  people,  was  as  mutually  strong 
as  it  had  ever  been.  The  President  continued 
his  speech,  the  momentary  colour  faded  from  her 
cheeks,  and  she  was  again  the  "Mater  Dolorosa." 


236  EMPRESS  ELIZABETH 

It  was  the  last  time  she  was  seen  in  Hungary, 
the  last  occasion  on  which  she  appeared  in  regal 
splendour. 


CHAPTER  XXVI 

DEATH   OF   THE   EMPRESS 

THE  thought  of  death,  but  not  the  fear,  was 
constantly  in  the  mind  of  the  Empress,  and  we 
have  seen  how  she  took  her  life  in  her  hands  in 
time  of  war,  and  during  fearful  epidemics,  besides 
ignoring  the  inevitable  exposure  to  accident  and 
death  on  her  frequent  travels.  Two  original 
poems  in  simple  wooden  frames  hang  on  the  walls 
of  her  bedroom  in  Corfu,  of  which  the  following 
is  one  : 

"  Gervistet  sein,  wie  fur  die  letzte  Reise, 
Allstiindlich,  ohne  sorgendes  Bedenken, 
Das  ist  vielleicht  die  einzig  rechte  Weise, 
Der  Goiter  Segen  auf  ein  Hanpt  zu  lenken. 
Was  Du  ersehnst,  das  wird  Dich  ewig  fliehen, 
Was  Du  beweinen  kannst,  verlierst  Du  auch  ; 
Die  Huld  des  Schicksals  wird  nur  frei  verliehen, 
Und  suchst  Du  sie,  verweht  sie  Dir,  ein  Hauch  ! 
Es  liegt  ein  Fluch  auf  allem  ird'schen  Trachten, 
Und  was  er  halt,  das  ringt  sich  nicht  mehr  los, 
Doch  lernst  Du  lachelnd  Gliick  und  Glanz  verachten, 
Dann  sinkt  Dir  ihre  Fiille  in  den  Schosz." 


238  EMPRESS  ELIZABETH 

Come  the  summons  when  it  may, 
Be  thou  ready  for  the  way, 
So  shall  thou  the  gods'  gifts  obtain 
And  blessings  from  the  all-seeing  gain. 
Joys  thou  seekest  flee  away, 
Griefs  and  sorrows  do  not  stay, 
Unexpected  comes  Fate's  boon, 
Seek  it,  and  it  fades  as  soon 
As  the  light  breath — A  curse  attends 
Human  aims  and  human  ends, 
Which  no  power  can  charm  or  stay. 
If  with  smiles  thou  canst  despise 
The  joy  which  fades  so  sopn  away, 
The  bliss  which  all  too  quickly  flies, 
Well  is  it  then  indeed  for  thee, 
Thy  cup  shall  overflowing  be. 

In  speaking  of  death,  she  was  wont  to  say  :  "I 
am  ready  to  die,  my  only  wish  is  that  I  may  be 
spared  acute  and  lingering  suffering." 

"  The  thought  of  death  purifies,  as  a  gardener 
removes  the  ill  weeds  that  disfigure  his  beds,"  she 
observed  on  one  occasion  to  her  Greek  reader. 
"But  this  gardener  insists  on  being  alone,  and 
is  angry  when  the  curious  intrude  upon  him.  It  is 
for  that  reason  that  I  shade  my  face  with  a  fan  or 
a  parasol ;  in  order  that  he  may  pursue  his  work 
in  peace." 

She  seemed  to  have  a  secret  presentiment  that 
her  life  would  end  by  some  unnatural  means,  and 


DEATti  OF  TttE  EMPRESS  $3$ 

believed  that  she  would  be  drowned  in  the  sea. 
When  walking  on  the  shore,  or  pacing  the  deck 
of  her  yacht,  she  would  frequently  observe  to  her 
companions  : — 

"  The  sea  is  longing  to  have  me  and  I  know  that 
I  belong  to  it.  When  the  waves  run  high,  I  let 
myself  be  strapped  to  my  seat,  for  like  Ulysses 
of  old,  I  feel  the  attraction  of  the  billows." 

"  I  know  that  nothing  can  hinder  me  from 
acquiescing  in  my  fate  the  day  that  I  must  meet 
it,"  she  remarked  a  few  years  before  her  death, 
"  for  all  men  must  submit  at  the  appointed  hour. 
We  may  seem  to  be  overlooked,  but  we  are  claimed 
at  last.  What  does  it  matter  if  I  am  drowned  ? 
People  will  say  :  '  Why  did  she  go  on  the  water  ? 
And  why  did  she  generally  travel  in  the  winter, 
she,  who  was  moreover,  an  Empress?  Why  did 
she  not  remain  in  the  Hof burg  ? '  But  the  close 
of  my  life  will  probably  be  even  more  surprising — 
for  an  Empress  !  The  assurance  and  pride  of  men 
are  often  punished  by  fate,  and  this  may  prove 
my  retribution  for  many  things  !  " 

The  wish  of  the  Empress  was  fulfilled,  for  she 
died  in  a  far  more  surprising  manner  than  either 
she  or  the  world  could  have  dreamt  of,  and  the 
life  which  had  opened  like  a  spring  idyll,  was 
closed  in  the  gloom  of  tragedy. 


*40  EMPRESS  ELIZABETH 

On  All  Souls'  Day,  1897,  she  and  the  Emperor 
visited  the  church  of  the  Capuchins  in  Vienna, 
when  they  remained  for  some  time  in  prayer  by 
the  coffin  of  their  son,  and  it  was  soon  after  this 
date  that  the  Empress  left  Austria  for  Biarritz, 
where  she  spent  a  couple  of  months.  It  was  on 
this  occasion  that  she  caused  some  trouble  to  the 
French  government  by  constantly  crossing  the 
boundary  between  France  and  Spain  when,  greatly 
to  her  annoyance,  measures  had  been  taken  to 
protect  her  from  the  brigands  of  the  frontier. 

An  occurrence  of  harrowing  detail  had  recently 
deprived  her  of  her  youngest  sister,  the  Duchess 
of  Alenson,  who  with  several  other  ladies  had 
organised  a  Charity  Bazaar  in  some  newly  erected 
barracks  in  Paris.  At  four  o'clock  in  the  afternoon 
of  May  4th,  a  lamp  that  had  been  prepared  for  an 
exhibition  of  cinematographs  suddenly  exploded, 
drapery  caught  fire,  and  on  the  opening  of  a  door 
for  the  exit  of  those  present,  the  whole  building 
rapidly  became  a  prey  to  the  flames.  One  hundred 
and  thirty  perished  in  this  awful  manner,  amongst 
them,  Sophie  d'Alen9on,  the  former  fiancee  of 
Louis  II.  of  Bavaria.  Her  body  was  found  and 
recognised  later  on,  but  the  fact  that  she  had  suc- 
cumbed to  the  flames  was  verified  earlier  by  the 
discovery  of  her  wedding-ring. 


DEA  TH  OF  THE  EMPRESS  241 

The  Queen  of  Naples  and  the  Countess 
Mathilde  de  Trani  were  now  the  only  two  left  of 
the  Empress's  sisters,  and  of  these  the  latter  was 
her  especial  favourite,  her  counterpart  in  tastes 
and  mental  sympathies.  Like  Elizabeth,  she 
shunned  the  world  and  was  happiest  when  travel- 
ling in  strict  incognito,  frequently  under  the  modest 
name  of  "  Miss  Nellie  Schmidt." 

The  Empress  spent  the  last  Christmas  of  her 
life  with  her  sisters  in  Paris,  but  a  violent  attack 
of  sciatica  forced  her  to  hasten  her  journey  to  the 
south,  and  on  the  evening  of  New  Year's  Day,  she 
left  for  Marseilles  to  embark  with  the  Countess  de 
Trani  on  board  her  yacht  "  Miramare  "  for  San 
Remo,  where  they  remained  until  March  ist,  1898, 
when  the  sisters  travelled  together,  via  Turin  to 
Territet,  where  they  separated  never  to  meet  again. 

Elizabeth  had  frequently  visited  the  Lake  of 
Geneva  in  former  years  and  was  fond  of  returning 
to  favourite  spots.  Almost  daily  she  took  the 
train  up  to  Glion,  and  then  proceeded  on  foot  to 
the  still  higher  Mont  de  Caux,  accompanied  only 
by  one  lady-in-waiting  and  Mr.  Frederick 
Barker,  her  reader.* 

*"The  last  English  novel  that  the  Empress  read  with  her 
permanent  English  reader,  Mr.  Barker,  was  Marion  Crawford's 
'Corleone' — she  was  strongly  moved  by  the  horrors  of  the  book," 

16 


242  EMPRESS  ELIZABETH 

After  a  stay  of  six  weeks  in  Switzerland,  she 
went  to  Kissingen,  where  she  was  visited  by 
the  Emperor.  Two  months  later  she  returned 
to  Vienna,  when  her  husband  met  her  and 
accompained  her  to  Lainz,  where  she  only 
remained  about  a  fortnight. 

She  had  certainly  never  been  nearer  insanity 
than  at  this  period,  when  the  heavy  veil  of 
melancholy  clung  ever  more  and  more  closely 
around  her.  Her  expression  was  restless,  but 
unspeakably  sad,  and  the  lines  of  her  mouth  had 
become  hard  and  sharp.  Her  whole  body  was  a 
prey  to  neuralgia  which  robbed  her  of  rest  by  day 
and  night,  and  anyone  conversing  with  her  could 
notice  her  emaciated  hands  tremble  and  her 
sunken  features  turn  deadly  pale  under  the 
intense  effort  to  control  her  physical  agony.  She 
could  hardly  bear  to  see  anybody,  and  the 
presence  even  of  her  husband,  children,  and 
grandchildren  was  painful  to  her. 

On  July  2nd  she  went  to  Ischl,  accompanied 
by  the  Emperor,  her  daughter  Valerie,  and  the 
children  in  order  to  celebrate  the  birthday  of  her 
husband  as  usual,  when  the  Imperial  couple,  on 
the  1 8th  of  the  month,  always  attended  a  church 
service  together,  and  this  was  the  only  day  in  the 
whole  year  on  which  the  Empress  did  not  wear 


DEATH  OF  THE  EMPRESS  243 

mourning.  On  this  occasion  the  family  party 
dispersed  earlier  than  usual  in  accordance  with 
the  advice  of  the  doctor  that  Elizabeth  should 
go  to  Nanheim  in  Hesse.  A  week  before  this 
date,  the  leading  papers  in  Austria  and  Hungary 
had  contained  the  following  account  of  her  health : 

"  Her  Majesty  the  Empress  and  Queen  has 
been  suffering  for  some  long  time  past  from 
anaemia,  which  became  worse  in  consequence 
of  severe  neuritis  in  the  course  of  last  winter, 
following  on  insomnia  of  many  weeks'  standing, 
in  addition  to  which  there  is  enlargement  of  the 
heart.  Under  conditions  of  absolute  rest,  her 
illness  need  not  give  rise  to  serious  apprehension, 
but  the  doctors  earnestly  advise  her  Majesty  to 
submit  to  treatment  at  the  baths  in  order  to 
strengthen  the  muscles  of  the  heart." 

On  her  way  to  Nanheim  the  Empress  passed 
through  Munich,  but  without  seeing  her  daughter 
or  any  of  her  connections,  though  she  visited  some 
of  the  public  buildings  and  the  "  Hofbrauhaus,"  or 
"Court  Brewery." 

Although  she  still  looked  ill  and  suffering,  her 
health  certainly  derived  benefit  from  her  stay  in 
Nanheim,  where  a  course  of  massage  improved 
both  her  sleep  and  appetite.  She  passed  several 
hours  of  the  day  in  the  adjacent  woods,  visited 


244  EMPRESS  ELIZABETH 

the  farms  in  the  neighbourhood,  and  looked 
forward  to  more  distant  excursions,  though  not 
such  as  she  had  enjoyed  in  former  days,  on 
account  of  fatigue  and  shortness  of  breath.  She 
left  Nanheim  for  Switzerland  August  29th,  and 
went  direct  to  Mont  de  Caux,  where  she  could  be 
more  sure  of  quiet  than  in  noisy  Territet,  where 
she  had  previously  resided.  She  was  apparently 
in  fair  health,  rose  early,  and  daily  ascended  one 
of  the  neighbouring  heights.  Those  who  met 
the  sombrely  clad,  elegant  stranger,  in  close 
conversation  with  one  lady,  apparently  a  friend, 
could  hardly  guess  that  this  was  the  Empress  of 
one  of  the  most  powerful  states  of  Europe, 
containing  some  forty  million  inhabitants. 

In  the  telegram  in  which  she  announced  to 
Francis  Joseph  her  safe  arrival  at  Mont  de  Caux, 
she  expresed  her  regret  that  he  could  not  share 
with  her  the  pleasures  of  this  sojourn  in  Switzer- 
land, where  she  counted  upon  remaining  about 
four  or  five  weeks.  She  also  wrote  to  her 
husband  shortly  before  her  death,  that  she  was 
feeling  so  much  stronger  that  she  hoped  to  be 
with  him  during  the  approaching  jubilee 
festivities. 

On  September  Qth  she  went  to  the  Castle  of 
Pregny,  which  had  formerly  been  in  the  possession 


DEATH  OF  THE  EMPRESS  245 

of  Joseph  Bonaparte,  but  is  now  occupied  by 
members  of  the  Rothschild  family,  who  had 
rendered  valuable  services  to  the  King  and 
Queen  of  Naples,  and  to  whom  Elizabeth  was 
anxious  to  pay  the  honour  of  a  visit. 

On  the  previous  evening  she  was  walking  in 
Territet  with  Mr.  Barker,  when  they  sat  down 
on  a  moss-grown  boulder  near  the  Lake,  while 
the  Empress  peeled  a  peach,  and  offered  the  half 
to  her  companion.  At  the  very  moment,  a  raven 
flew  towards  her  and  struck  the  fruit  out  of  her 
hands  by  the  force  of  its  wings. 

The  Habsburgs  have  always  looked  upon  the 
raven  as  a  bird  of  ill-omen,  while  even  her  reader 
considered  this  sudden  appearance  portentous,  and 
counselled  the  Empress  to  forego  the  proposed 
visit  to  Geneva  and  Pregny. 

"  Dear  friend,"  Elizabeth  answered,  "  I  fear 
nothing.  What  is  to  be  will  be,  and  I  am  a  fatalist! " 

She  went  to  Pregny  accompanied  by  her  lady- 
in-waiting,  the  Hungarian  Countess  Sztaray,  per- 
fectly cheerful  and  feeling  remarkably  well.  She 
overwhelmed  Baroness  Rothschild  by  her  friend- 
ship, and  left  for  Geneva  in  the  course  of  the 
afternoon  to  stay  at  the  hotel  Beaurivage,  where 
she  had  previously  been. 

"Geneva  is  my  favourite  place,"  she  observed 


246  EMPRESS  ELIZABETH 

a  few  years  before  her  death  "  I  am  safe  there 
among  cosmopolitans." 

The  landlady  of  the.  hotel  was  perfectly  aware 
of  the  status  of  her  visitor,  who  enquired  if  her 
incognito  had  been  preserved. 

"Yes,"  she  replied,  though  it  was  just  possible 
that  the  servants  had  remembered  her  from  former 
visits. 

On  her  arrival  in  Switzerland,  orders  had  been 
issued  by  the  chiefs  of  the  Canton  that  the  police 
were  to  watch  over  her  safety  ;  but,  as  usual,  she 
had  expressed  the  wish  to  remain  unattended, 
preferring  to  travel  alone. 

Accompanied  by  the  Countess  Sztaray,  she  left 
the  hotel  about  noon,  September  loth,  to  go  on 
board  the  steamer  '•  Geneva,"  by  which  she 
intended  to  return  to  Mont  de  Caux. 

The  staff  of  the  hotel  had  assembled  to  watch 
her  from  the  door  and  admire  her  light  rapid 
walk,  while  fearing  that  the  ladies  would  not 
reach  the  boat  in  time.  The  Countess  hastened 
on  a  step  in  front  of  the  Empress,  and  during  this 
one  moment,  a  man,  who  had  been  sitting  on  a 
bench  on  the  Quai  Montblanc,  stepped  forward. 
It  was  the  Italian  Luigi  Luccheni,  a  dangerous 
anarchist,  who  had  been  notified  to  the  Swiss 
police  authorities  as  a  man  to  be  strictly  watched. 


247 

He  rushed  up  to  Elizabeth  and  stabbed  her  in 
the  breast  with  a  sharp  weapon,  when  she  sank 
to  the  ground,  and  the  Countess,  who  knew 
nothing  of  what  had  occurred,  threw  her  arm 
round  the  Empress,  as  she  was  in  the  act  of 
falling  and  asked  : 

"  Is  your  Majesty  ill  ?  " 

"  I  do  not  know,"  she  replied. 

"  Will  your  Majesty  take  my  arm  ?  " 

"  No  thank  you." 

The  Countess  was  prepared  to  support  her, 
though  it  hardly  seemed  necessary,  and  they  went 
on  board. 

"Am  I  pale?"  the  Empress  asked. 

"  Yes,  your  Majesty." 

Then  she  fell  a  second  time  and  fainted. 

In  the  meantime,  the  steamer  had  began  to 
move,  while  the  Countess  Sztaray  and  one  or  two 
other  ladies  were  trying  to  restore  consciousness. 
On  loosening  the  Empress's  clothes  to  give  her 
air,  traces  of  blood  became  visible,  but  in  the 
strength  of  this  momentary  relief  the  sufferer 
asked  in  a  loud  clear  voice  : 

"  What  has  happened  ?  " 

They  were  her  last  words.  It  was  only  now 
that  the  Countess  became  seriously  alarmed,  and 
told  the  captain  that  the  sick  lady  was  the  Empress 


&4&  EMPRESS  ELIZABETH 

of  Austria,  when  he  at  once  returned  to  Geneva. 
She  was  carried  to  the  Hotel  Beaurivage  on  a 
sailcloth  stretcher,  and  immediately  after  the 
captain  and  his  men  had  placed  her  in  her  room, 
she  gave  two  deep  sighs  and  was  gone. 

A  few  days  previously  she  had  observed  to  her 
reader  : 

"  I  should  like  to  have  a  quick,  painless  death  ; — 
not  to  die  in  my  bed." 

Two  physicians  obeyed  a  summons  instantly, 
but  only  to  declare,  after  careful  examination,  that 
she  had  passed  gently  and  peacefully  to  her  rest. 

Death  had  peen  produced  by  a  murderous 
weapon  that  had  penetrated  the  fourth  rib  and 
pierced  the  heart  and  lung. 

This  occurrence  in  broad  daylight,  in  an  open 
thoroughfare  of  a  large  town  aroused  the  horror 
and  dismay  of  the  whole  world,  for  seldom  has 
there  been  perpetrated  such  a  senseless,  purpose- 
less murder.  Elizabeth  of  Austria  had  never 
exercised  the  faintest  influence,  either  direct  or 
indirect,  upon  politics,  and  was  indeed  perfectly 
ignorant  of  most  of  the  plans  and  measures  affect- 
ing her  country.  She  had,  as  Francis  Joseph 
expressed  it,  in  the  first  moment  of  his  poignant 
grief,  "  done  good  to  many,  but  no  harm  to  a 
single  human  being."  She  was  less  known  to  the 


DEATH  OF  THE  EMPRESS  i±g 

world  as  the  wearer  of  an  Imperial  diadem,  than 
as  the  lovely  unhappy  descendant  of  the  Wittels- 
bachs,  who  went  her  solitary  way  through  life, 
with  an  inward,  upward  gaze. 

This  murder  of  a  noble-minded  woman  in  a 
foreign  land,  far  away  from  her  own  people,  will 
always  rem  tin  one  of  the  most  atrocious  crimes 
of  our  day. 

And  yet  the  dagger  of  Luccheni  was  the 
instrument  of  a  higher  power,  and  death  was  but 
a  friend  to  the  victim  ;  for  Elizabeth  had  long 
been  pining  for  rest  and  peace,  which  she  found  as 
she  had  wished,  without  protracted  suffering,  and 
in  the  heart  of  Nature.  God  alone  who  received 
her  weary  spirit  in  His  fatherly  embrace,  knows 
whether  her  last  sign  was  not  a  sob  of  thankful 
deliverance. 


CHAPTER  XXVII 


CONCLUSION 


THE  chamber  of  death  had  been  draped  with 
black,  and  priests  knelt  in  prayer  round  the 
coffin,  which  was  covered  with  a  purple  pall, 
embroidered  on  the  corners  with  the  words 
"  Repose  en  paix." 

The  mourning  garb  of  life  was  retained  in 
death,  and  her  Majesty  was  shrouded  in  black 
silk.  Her  noble,  lovely  face  had  hardly  changed, 
and  her  whole  form  seemed  to  have  preserved 
its  dignified  repose ;  her  beautiful  hair  was 
arranged  as  in  life-time. 

The  deep  sapphire  eyes,  which  had  never 
exhibited  a  tinge  of  malice  or  unkindness,  were 
closed,  and  the  hands  which  had  turned  so  many 
a  page  of  her  favourite  authors,  were  folded  over 
an  ivory  cross  and  rosary. 

The  Empress  had  never  wearied  of  travel, 
she  died  from  home,  and  now  that  the  spirit  had 


CONCLUSION!  251 

fled,  her  mortal  remains  had  to  be  taken  yet  one 
more  journey. 

A  special  train  left  Geneva  on  the  evening 
of  September  nth.  During  her  life  she  had 
deprecated  any  demonstration  on  her  travels,  but 
on  this  last  occasion  every  head  was  bared  in  the 
presence  of  their  departed  Empress,  and  before 
the  majesty  of  death. 

The  road  from  Switzerland  to  the  Austrian 
capital  passes  through  many  places  which  she 
had  visited  forty-four  years  previously,  during 
her  bridal  journey  to  Vienna.  In  Linz,  where 
her  vessel  and  her  hotel  had  been  decorated  with 
roses,  there  was  not  a  house  without  a  black 
flag  or  drapery.  There,  where  the  muncipal 
authorities  had  appeared  to  welcome  the  young 
Princess,  stood  priests  to  bless  her  lifeless 
body. 

When  Francis  Joseph  received  the  news  of 
the  death  of  his  consort,  he  exclaimed  with 
sobs  : 

"  Nobody  can  conceive  the  magnitude  of  the 
loss  I  have  sustained — not  one  blow  is  spared 
me  in  this  world." 

A  few  days  later  he  said  to  a  deputation  of 
Hungarians  : 

"Without  her  I   should  never  have  been  able 


2<J2  EMPRESS  ELIZABETH 

to  carry  out  the  work  which  God  has  laid  upon 
my  shoulders." 

Expressions  of  sympathy  poured  in  from  every 
quarter,  and  poems  were  written  in  honour  of  the 
departed,  in  Italian,  French,  English,  and  Greek, 
while  Ireland,  where  she  had  been  so  deeply 
loved,  especially  by  the  poor,  contributed  her 
own  lines  of  grief  and  condolence.  Thousands 
of  wreaths  arrived  from  the  lowly  huts,  as  well 
as  from  the  stately  mansions  of  nearly  every 
land  she  had  visited,  even  from  Smyrna, 
Johannesburg,  and  China,  flowers  were  sent  to 
deck  her  bier. 

One  wreath  from  Cairo  was  made  of  desert 
blossoms,  hundreds  of  Jericho  roses,  symbols  of 
the  resurrection  among  the  early  Christians,  and 
lotus  flowers  that  speak  of  eternal  life.  The 
ribbon  was  intertwined  with  a  branch  of  the 
fig-tree  under  which,  according  to  tradition,  the 
Virgin  and  Child  had  rested  on  their  flight  from 
Herod,  under  whose  shade  the  Empress  Elizabeth 
had  frequently  reposed  during  her  flight  from  the 
turmoil  of  the  world. 

The  Armenian  women  had  embroidered  the 
following  inscription  on  a  black  band  : 

"  Fhrcs  etiam  miseri  desertorum  te  salutant/" 


CONCLUSION  253 

It  is  characteristic  of  the  far-travelled  Empress 
that  her  decease  created  a  deeper  impression  in 
many  other  capitals  than  in  Vienna  itself,  where 
she  had  been  so  little  seen,  that  her  features  Had 
almost  faded  from  the  memories  of  her  Austrian 
subjects.  Her  death  was  perhaps  the  occasion 
of  less  sorrow,  than  that  of  exasperation  with  the 
miscreant  who  had  murdered  a  defenceless  woman, 
a  sorrowing  mother. 

But  if  the  grief  of  the  Austrians  was  really 
superficial  and  conventional,  the  wail  of  the 
Hungarians,  on  the  contrary,  was  deep  and  true. 
Men  and  women  shed  tears  as  they  went  on  their 
way,  every  flag  was  half  mast  high,  the  great 
autumn  manoeuvres  were  abandoned,  the  Diet 
was  summoned  for  an  extraordinary  meeting,  the 
Exchange  was  closed  on  the  day  of  the  funeral, 
while  its  members  voted  at  once  a  sum  of  five 
thousand  gulden  towards  the  erection  of  a  statue 
of  their  Queen. 

The  papers  teemed  with  eloquent  expressions 
of  the  nation's  grief,  and  the  intense  appreciation 
of  the  Hungarians  was  manifested  by  the  decision 
that  the  Queen's  biography  should  be  added  to  the 
national  archives,  and  become  incorporated  with 
the  history  of  their  country. 

Elizabeth  possessed  a  considerable  fortune,  nnd 


254  EMPRESS  ELIZABETH 

her  personal  jewels  alone,  gifts  from  Francis 
Joseph  and  other  royal  persons,  were  valued 
at  four  million  gulden.  She  had  made  her 
will  at  Buda-Pesth  in  1896,  briefly,  and  in 
her  own  handwriting,  by  which  she  left  the 
castle  at  Lainz  to  her  daughter  Valerie,  and 
the  Achilleion  in  Corfu  to  her  daughter 
Gisela,  with  substantial  legacies  to  her  ladies-in- 
waiting  and  her  personal  domestics.  She  also 
remembered  old  friends  and  former  teachers 
in  Bavaria ;  but  she  was  most  generous  to 
the  lady  reader  whom  we  have  already 
mentioned,  Ida  von  Ferenczy,  who  had  been 
her  most  intimate  companion  for  thirty  years. 
In  addition  to  a  large  sum  of  money  which 
the  Empress  had  given  her,  she  was  to  retain 
her  yearly  salary  for  life,  as  well  as  a  suite  of 
rooms  in  the  Imperial  Castle. 


In  a  former  chapter,  I  quoted  one  of  the 
two  poems  written  by  Elizabeth  and  hung  up 
in  her  bedroom  at  Corfu,  which  reveal  to 
us  her  views  on  life  and  death.  The  second 
proves  her  great  humility,  and  the  absence  of 
any  hope  that  her  memory  would  linger  among 
men  : 


CONCLUSION  255 

"  Ob  gross,  ob  klein  erscheint,  was  wir  gethan, 
Wenn  wir  beschlossen  unsere  Erdenbahn ; 
Wie  schnell  ist  ausgefiillt  die  leere  Stelle  ! 
Wie  viel  macht's  Unterschied  im  Ocean, 
Ein  Tropfen  weinger  oder  eine  Welle." 

(Earthly  deeds,  or  great  or  small, 

Count  but  little  when  earth's  light 
Fades ;  our  place  is  quickly  filled 

In  the  ever  ceaseless  fight. 
Take  from  ocean's  mighty  store 

Drop  or  wave,  the  waters  still 
Roll  as  full  towards  the  shore, 

Their  appointed  course  fulfil.) 

In  early  life  she  had  expressed  the  wish  to  be 
buried  under  the  big  tree  at  Godollo  which  had 
been  so  dear  to  her  ;  and  then  in  later  years  she 
thought  she  would  like  to  lie  in  Corfu  close  to 
the  castle  of  Achilleion,  and  she  had  frequently 
been  heard  to  say  : 

"  I  will  be  buried  in  Corfu,  near  the  shore  of 
the  sea,  where  its  waves  can  dash  over  my  grave." 

Dr.  Christomanos  relates  that  she  one  day 
remarked  to  him  in  the  Achilleion  : 

"  I  desire  to  lie  here,  unless  I  die  at  sea.  The 
stars  will  shine  over  me,  and  the  moan  of  the 
cypresses  will  be  deeper  than  that  of  my 
fellow-creatures,  for  I  shall  live  longer  in  the 


256  EMPRESS  ELIZABETH 

sighing  of  the  trees,  than  in  the  memory  of  my 
subjects." 

This  wish  to  be  laid  to  rest  in  the  Achilleion 
was  even  expressed  in  her  will,  but  it  could  not 
be  respected. 

On  the  receipt  of  the  news  of  her  death  in  Hun- 
gary, a  deputation  immediately  set  out  for  Vienna 
to  entreat  the  Emperor  to  allow  her  remains 
to  be  interred  at  Godollo,  according  to  the 
unanimous  wish  of  the  Hungarians,  but  this  too 
was  rejected. 

On  the  west  side  of  the  New  Market,  in  the 
inner  city  of  Vienna,  stands  the  unimportant-look- 
ing church  of  the  Capuchins,  with  the  words 
"  Imperial  Vault "  inscribed  on  one  of  the  side 
doors.  A  narrow  stone  staircase  leads  down  into 
the  dismal  crypt  where  rest  the  earthly  remains  of 
the  Imperial  house  of  Habsburg. 

It  was  here  that  the  great  Maria  Theresa  used 
to  descend,  accompanied  by  her  bright  young 
daughters,  whom  she  forced  to  contemplate  for 
themselves  the  transitoriness  of  all  earthly  splen- 
dour. 

Elizabeth  had  adopted  a  singular  position  in 
life,  but  the  Emperor  would  admit  of  no  differ- 
ence in  death,  and  was  determined  that  his 
consort  should  rest  under  the  same  roof  as. 


CONCLUSION  257 

former  Empresses  and  the  members  of  his  own 
race. 

The  coffin  of  the  murdered  Empress  stands 
at  the  end  of  a  side  vault,  between  that  of  her 
brother-in-law,  the  murdered  Emperor  of  Mexico, 
and  that  of  her  son,  the  suicide  or  murdered 
Rudolph. 

In  life  she  shunned  the  ceremonials  of  the 
Church,  and  now  in  death  masses  are  recited 
night  and  day  for  the  repose  of  her  soul.  The 
door  leading  down  to  the  vault  is  opened  every 
day  at  noon,  and  she,  who  hated  the  mere  contact 
with  mankind,  has  become  in  death  an  object  for 
the  curiosity  of  multitudes. 

How  much  more  suitable  for  her  would  have 
been  the  Grecian  island  than  the  murky  vault 
of  the  Habsburgs,  or  the  old  tree  in  Godollo — 
the  murmur  of  the  sea  or  the  rustle  of  the 
leaves,  rather  than  the  re-iterated  masses  of  the 
monks ! 

Achilleion  has  been  sold  fora  "gaming  estab- 
lishment," and  gamblers  from  all  lands  will  soon 
be  staking  their  money  on  the  tables  of  the  castle 
built  by  the  Empress,  whose  one  desire  was  to  be 
left  alone.  But  there  will  be  many  among  the 
motley  crowd  of  continuous  tourists  that  will 
recall  the  erratic,  sombrely-clad  traveller,  who  so 

17 


258  EMPRESS  ELIZABETH 

persistently  screened  her  face  with  a  large  black 
fan,  and  monuments  have  been  erected  to  her 
memory  in  many  of  her  favourite  places,  where 
the  poor  have  not  yet  forgotten  her  ever  open 
hand. 

Opinions  concerning  her  were  by  no  means 
unanimous  while  she  lived,  though  foreigners 
were  certainly  agreed  as  to  her  remarkable  beauty, 
her  courage,  her  devotion  to  literature,  and  her 
generosity. 

In  Austria  her  great  mental  capacity  has  been 
recognised,  though  even  there,  where  she  was  mis- 
understood to  the  last  hour  of  her  life,  she  was 
harshly  judged  for  her  singularity  and  the  inherited 
tendencies  of  the  Wittelsbachs. 

But  the  charity  of  death  and  the  grave  has 
reconciled  many  points  that  gave  rise  to  bitterness, 
and  the  Austrians  have  neither  forgotten  her 
strength  and  self-denial  on  that  gruesome,  stormy 
January  morning  of  1889,  nor  that  the  last  ten 
years  of  her  life  were  spent  in  suffering,  which  she 
bore  in  addition  to  her  other  numerous  trials,  with 
noble  resignation. 

Her  memory  is  adored  in  Hungary,  whose 
women  have  erected  a  monument  near  her  tomb, 
representing  a  "  Mater  Dolorosa,"  with  folded 
hands  resting  on  a  cross,  bearing  a  crown  of 


CONCLUSION  259 

thorns,  at  the  foot  of  which  is  a  gigantic  bronze 
wreath  of  carnations  and  roses,  Elizabeth's  favour- 
ite flowers,  and  a  broad  ribbon  inscribed  with 
loving  words  of  homage. 

An  equestrian  statue  to  her  memory  is  to  be 
raised  in  Buda-Pesth  at  the  voluntary  expense  of 
the  nation,  a  monument  well-pleasing  to  the 
Magyars,  who  delighted  to  see  her  graceful  form 
on  horseback,  scouring  their  vast  plains. 

On  the  hill  occupied  by  the  fortress  in  Buda 
there  has  long  stood  the  so-called  "  Hentzi  Monu- 
ment," in  memory  of  the  Austrian  general  of  that 
name  famous  in  the  war  against  Hungary,  in 
1848-9,  which  has  naturally  been  a  permanent 
eye-sore  to  the  inhabitants.  The  Emperor  has 
now  consented  to  its  removal,  and  ordered  the 
erection  of  the  statue  to  his  wife  on  the  vacant 
spot.  The  decision  was  received  with  enthusiasm, 
and  Maurus  Jokai  wrote  on  the  subject  in  the 
"  Magyar  Hirlap  : " 

"  Our  beloved  Queen  Elizabeth  is  working 
miracles  for  us  from  Paradise,  and  wiping  away 
the  last  tear  from  the  faces  of  her  people.  She  is 
healing  our  last  wound,  of  which  we  may  say,  that 
though  it  was  still  bleeding,  its  pain  had  dis- 
appeared. " 

The  Hungarian  priesthood  have  canonised  her, 


260  EMPRESS  ELIZABETH 

and  the  devoted  people  mean  the  late  Empress 
when  they  speak  of  "  Saint  Elizabeth."  They 
like  to  believe  that  their  good  Queen,  who  sym- 
pathised so  warmly  with  them  in  their  life,  who 
shared  their  joys  and  their  sorrows,  is  still  even  in 
death,  their  guardian  angel. 


THE    END 


W.  Jolly  <&»  Swut,  Printers,  38  Bridge  Street,  Aberdeen. 


UC  SOUTHERN  REGIONAL  LIBRARY  FACILITY 


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